Celebrate Thanksgiving Day with Beto and Gaby
Celebra el Día de Acción de Gracias con Beto y Gaby

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Story: Beto and Gaby anx­iously wait for their rel­a­tives to arrive for Thanks­giv­ing din­ner. One by one, each guest calls to inform them that they will not be able to attend because of a great snow­storm. Thanks­giv­ing with­out Grandma and the rest of the fam­ily is just not the same. What will they do with so much food? What they don’t sus­pect is that their grand­mother has a sur­prise or two, or three, waiting for them.

The his­tory of the Thanks­giv­ing cel­e­bra­tion in the United Sates is com­plex. Hav­ing a cel­e­bra­tion to give thanks for a good har­vest or sur­viv­ing a per­ilous sit­u­a­tion was an estab­lished prac­tice in Euro­pean coun­tries, unfor­tu­nately dur­ing the col­o­niza­tion of the United States this prac­tice was also extended to the cel­e­bra­tion of vic­to­ries after bat­tles with the indige­nous peo­ple of the land, on sev­eral dif­fer­ent occa­sions. What for some was a moment of tri­umph, for oth­ers was a moment of defeat and the per­pet­u­a­tion of great injustice.

The com­plex­ity of the his­tory behind this cel­e­bra­tion needs to be explained to chil­dren at the appro­pri­ate moment.

Using this day to express our grat­i­tude for life and life’s gifts and as an occa­sion to reflect on the need for sol­i­dar­ity and the deter­mi­na­tion to fight against injus­tice would give the cel­e­bra­tion a valu­able meaning.

Non-fiction: An overview of Thanks­giv­ing cel­e­bra­tions includ­ing the Thanks­giv­ing cel­e­bra­tion which took place in El Paso, Texas years before the one in Ply­mouth and a his­tory of how Thanks­giv­ing became a national cel­e­bra­tion. Includes numer­ous infor­ma­tive photographs.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Thanksgiving was a celebration I knew of for the first time, at age sixteen. I was an exchange student with the American Field Service Program in Trenton, Michigan. Everything about the US was new to me, like the intense foliage, cold weather, and garage sales.

However my first Thanksgiving in Michigan was market by tragedy. There were preparations at home for a big festivity, friends and family were invited and we were all prepared for a big meal. It was 1963. Thanksgiving Day was supposed to be celebrated November 28. But on November 22 President John F. Kennedy was tragically shot in Dallas, Texas.

Coming from a dictatorship I was sure that a Civil War would follow the horrible assassination of a president. But what happened was a peaceful transition that I had to explain and describe everyday, for a full month, to my very worried parents in Spain. There was no real celebration at the home of the family I was staying with. They were as sad as a whole nation, and they wanted to pay a tribute to the president by not celebrating the festivity. But I have had many opportunities since then to devote a day to celebrate gratitude among human beings with my family and friends.

Since I am one of the two authors of this book, I can share my side of the story. You can visit www.isabelcampoy.com to read what the other author has to say.

Many read­ers are intrigued about how two authors col­lab­o­rate to write a book. If you share this curios­ity you may enjoy read­ing how I explain this expe­ri­ence in the chap­ter entitled “Writ­ing in Col­lab­o­ra­tion: One plus One is One or Two” in the book Alma Flor Ada and You, vol­ume II pub­lished by Libraries Unlimited.

Since I am one of the two authors of this book, I can share my side of the story. You can visit www.isabelcampoy.com to read what the other author has to say.

Many read­ers are intrigued about how two authors col­lab­o­rate to write a book. If you share this curios­ity you may enjoy read­ing how I explain this expe­ri­ence in the chap­ter entitled “Writ­ing in Col­lab­o­ra­tion: One plus One is One or Two” in the book Alma Flor Ada and You, vol­ume II pub­lished by Libraries Unlimited.