Happy Thanksgiving! My son David & his wife are spending Thanksgiving week in Colorado with old friends. Today when they called to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving, David exuberantly described seeing a huge herd of elk grazing in Rocky Mountain National Park. He and 8-year-old Bevan and 3-year-old Lyndall & their father Richard joined with other people who were peacefully walking among the peaceful elk! In New Jersey, we took a walk in the woods and came upon a rafter of wild turkeys–15 in all.
(click on picture for larger image) My book Thanksgiving: The True Story put me back in touch with Bob Schaeffer, an old friend, really old as in we had play dates, before they were called play dates, in the early 1950s. Here is a link to his column in The East Hampton Press. http://www.27east.com/story_print.cfm?id=180357
On Tues. 11/18/20 I did an interview via email with Glenn Evans, a reporter for the Longview News-Journal, Longview, Texas. You can read his piece at http://www.news-journal.com/search/content/features/stories/2008/11/19/11192008_truly_thankful.html Check out the very cool “click-2-listen” feature at the top of the article “Table Talk: Experts discuss the origins of Thanksgiving traditions.” In the last paragraph, the reporter misattributed a quote from me to “Oliver,” and the newspaper printed a correction in Friday’s paper. I relate that incident because educators/librarians frequently ask me about “accuracy,” i.e. how to ensure it, check for it, etc. There’s no surefire way, I reply, because unintended things–new discoveries, mistakes, etc.–happen to even scrupulous writers. So, check, double-check, & maintain a healthy skepticism. Elizabeth Bird, senior children’s librarian, New York Public Library, posted a review at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1070036907.html Check out what Jeremy Brunaccioni wrote at: http://blogs.scholastic.com/kid_lit/2008/11/picture-book–2.html Fran Hawk at http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/nov/25/ideas_make_children_feel_special62882/ Terri Schlichenmeyer at: http://tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/3317/1/Book-Review-Thanksgiving-The-True-Story/Page1.html