Why I Wrote My Children’s Book, The Thanksgiving Dinner Platter 

When we meet other cultures and beliefs ideally we would realize that we are quite similar despite our differences, we have similar aspirations and experience joys and pains in a basically similar fashion.  Sadly, sometimes differences trigger conflicts and fear and parents without knowing it cultivate these same sentiments in young minds.  As a children’s book author/illustrator I believe kids are stronger if they are helped early on to understand a bit more of the world around them.  If they are taught to be more receptive to differences in traditions and ideas they are more likely to be confident and interactive.

Having grown-up in the Mediterranean I was taught that family and holiday celebrations go together like white on rice. Our mothers looked forward to festive celebrations of Christmas and Easter and planned them for months.  I have fun childhood memories of such festivities where a fleet of young siblings and cousins were running around, playing games, whispering, arguing, and mostly laughing together.  The older ones helped with the cooking and the setting of the glorious dinner table and the younger ones basked in awe of all the colorful commotion. I think of those festive days and their bright, warm glow flows over me once again. This book is about a special family holiday, Thanksgiving, a holiday I did not experience when I was growing up but one that I wholeheartedly adopted once I settled in this country. I absolutely love its true premise ‘Giving Thanks!”  There is so much wisdom and joy embedded in these very simple words and my challenge when I started this book was how to relay the message of these words to kids with clarity and a big smile.  I admit that this book has educational goals in its effort to highlight diversity and inspire tolerance but it was conceived primarily as a joyous tale of two kids having a unique thanksgiving experience.

The Thanksgiving Dinner Platter features the friendship between a Native American boy and a Japanese-American little girl. And, for fun I set the entire book in 1941 and included a real recipe for cornbread! The recipe is based on the first Thanksgiving dinner eaten by the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians at Plymouth Plantation. I threw in a few Japanese words for good measure and concluded with the kids sharing their special bread with the VETS at the VA and a true historic reference to how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. The Thanksgiving Dinner Platter makes great material for family reading time or for launching discussions about Thanksgiving, its history and tradition.  

Here are a few suggestions for using The Thanksgiving Dinner Platter as ‘Lesson Plan’.  Kids or students could be asked to imagine themselves at the first dinner, what kind of cooking utensils were used at the time. Bring grinding tools and pound the corn as our ancestors did to make cornmeal.  Ask how was the turkey cooked, and discuss the difference between life then and now. Kids can participate in a read out loud, follow the recipe, mix the ingredients after pounding the corn and prepare for baking.

Research, either together or prior to class, whether or not other countries have similar celebrations. Is there a Japanese “Thanksgiving”? Is similar food served? Does the holiday mean the same thing? They can look at pictures of different festive dishes and discuss their different ingredients. Below is a site that includes exotic recipes and I’m sure there are many more!

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2013/11/27/thanksgiving-recipes-multicultural

Thanksgiving Dinner Platter can be read out loud to showcase Japan’s Day of Thanks and clippings from Japan’s celebration can be shared.  I’m sure many pictures can be downloaded of such celebrations from the internet! Discovering Japan’s way of celebrating as with other cultures will not only open minds but prove to be fun too!

Discuss what Takari in the book learned that day! How and why she began to appreciate small and big blessings. How did her snapping at her dog make her understand her mom’s anger? Use the true historic vignette at the end of the book to discuss when and how Thanksgiving became a national holiday.  

I have purposefully stretched the word count in my books to be between 2500 and 3000 words trying to go after early readers. I think there is a forgotten zone between the toddler picture books and chapter books.  I think there are kids (5-9 years of age) who are still interested in picture books but want a higher word count than what the typical picture book offers. I’m hoping to entice them into more reading by retaining their attention with fun bright illustrations.  

Happy reading, Happy Thanksgiving and Bon Appetit!

And here’s a link to author page for Thanksgiving Dinner Platter both on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

http://amazon.com/author/randahandler

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/randa-handler