Junie B. Jones 28 – Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (And Other Thankful Stuff)

Barbara Park's Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten is a Thanksgiving Junie B. Jones story for 7 year olds, about a class trying to win a contest with the most honest thankful list ever written.

What happens

Mr Scary wants Room One to enter the school Thankful Contest. The prize is a homemade pumpkin pie from the lunch lady. Unfortunately, pumpkin pie makes most of Room One sick (they tell him so, one after another).

So what are they thankful for? Cranberry jelly that comes out of the tin still shaped like the tin. Biscuits that explode out of a tube. Toilet paper. A cheesy snack called Nipsy Doodles. Mr Scary tries very hard to steer them towards freedom, and Roger points out that he isn't even allowed to cross the road on his own.

It gets sillier. Show-and-tell brings a purse full of money (and the whole class diving into it), Roger reading out the label in his T-shirt, and two identical stuffed elephants. One belongs to Junie B. The other belongs to May, the girl she is least thankful for in the entire world.

Junie B. is as bossy and cheeky and hilarious as ever. She talks in her own brilliant grammar (a lot of "real annoyed" and "very thinking"), and she's always sure she's right. If your reader loves a character who says out loud what everyone else is only thinking, they'll be giggling from the start.

There's a sweet surprise in it too. Sheldon brings in photos of his three favourite turkeys, each with a name. It turns out his family photographs their Thanksgiving turkeys on the plate, and remembers them fondly (Larry was the best).

One small thing to mention. The class dress up as Pilgrims and Native Americans for their feast, May calls herself Chief May, and our narrator uses the word Indian the way an older book would. It's of its time, and might be worth a quick chat if your child picks up on it.

What to read next

For more of Mr Scary, May and the rest of Room One, go back to where their year begins in Junie B. Jones, First Grader (At Last!), when Junie B. walks in on day one and finds her old best friend has new best friends.