Eileen Spinelli's story describes a series of mishaps leading up to the Tappleton family's big Thanksgiving dinner. The story is light and humorous, but contains deeper themes including the true meaning of Thanksgiving and holiday spirit, and the importance of family. The illustrations by Megan Lloyd are very funny and highly colorful and expressive. This is a great story to read as a family during the holiday season, or anytime. The reading level is appropriate for lower to middle elementary. I would recommend this as a good addition to a public library children's collection. ( )

In this story, everyone has a job to do to contribute to the big Thanksgiving meal. But everyone messes up somehow, and instead of coming clean, they try to cover up their mistake and trick everyone else into thinking everything is going just fine. So when they all sit down to Thanksgiving, there are a bunch of empty bowls and boxes and then everyone has to come clean about how they messed up their part. There is a nice prayer about how turkeys and dressing aren't the important things in Thanksgiving, but I do wish there had been a bit more focus on how everyone should have just been honest in the beginning. ( )

This review refers to the 2003 edition. Gr PreK – 2—As this family of wolves prepare for the Thanksgiving feast, each fails to fulfill his or her responsibility of preparing a dish. When they all sit down to dinner, they discover they have no dinner. After a moment of dejection, Grandmother Tappleton reminds them that they have each other, and soon they are making due with liverwurst and pickles. The illustrations are detailed, expressive, and compliment the text. ( )