two thanksgiving books

We have been enjoying these two Thanksgiving books. I love a holiday read, and these are both so low-key and nicely written. An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott is something Dieter chose from his school library, and we only had it for a week. It's just my sort of thing. I love vintagey illustrations and stories of old-fashioned times. There is a lot of text in this book--almost like a little novella!--but Dieter and Rainer let me read them the entire thing (we spread it out over two nights). The story is about a large family at Thanksgiving whose parents have to go away to tend to the ill grandmother. The children end up cooking Thanksgiving dinner by themselves while the parents are away and at the end the whole extended family joins them and it turns out the grandmother wasn't actually ill at all.

Samuel Eaton's Day is about a pilgrim boy in 1627 living in Plimoth Plantation. The story takes place over the course of one day when Samuel helps the adults with the rye harvest for the first time. I love the details of life in the 1600's and it is so interesting to see how the child wants so badly to help with grown-up tasks, to be useful to his family, and to be brave and strong. I love the scene where the mother comes and brings the men their lunch and Samuel is so exhausted and sore but he is determined to finish the day. He says "I am grateful that Mam does not fret overly and she will not tell Father how much I smart." I just love that detail--how he is allowed to be strong and the mother doesn't baby him. So different from modern life! The language is also realistic to the times, and I love it. Again, Dieter listens to the whole book, despite so many unfamiliar words and phrases. I love this book. Would love to have more in the series.

We are having such a fun Thanksgiving break so far. More on that tomorrow.