Fried Feathers for Thanksgiving

Emma the Witch #3

by James Stevenson

Mean witches Dolores and Lavinia try to spoil Thanksgiving for everyone else but nice witch Emma and her friends outwit them.

Genres: Thanksgiving, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Fiction, Halloween

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 1986

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads databse.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those wascally witches from Yuck! are back! Now, the old gals are looking forward to a scrumptious Thanksgiving feast. But wait . . . there's the little problem of last year's Thanksgiving dishes to contened with.

Hmm . . . Who can they find to trick into doing the dirty work?

This was a fun twist on a holiday not exactly known for laugh-inducing traditions, proving once and for all - everything just gets better when you throw witches into the mix.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emma the witch, her many woodland friends, and her two witchy adversaries, Dolores and Lavinia, all return in this third picture-book devoted to their adventures. As Dolores and Lavinia mourn the coming and going of Halloween, a question from Emma reminds them of Thanksgiving. When they discover their house is still in disorder from the previous year's Thanksgiving, they trick Emma and friends into doing all the work of cleaning up, only to realize that they still don't have the holiday meal. Will they be able to trick Emma again, and steal her feast...?

Like Yuck! and Emma before it, I found Fried Feathers for Thanksgiving to be a humorously entertaining reading experience. Emma is a sympathetic heroine, and I appreciated the fact that Stevenson resists the urge to reform the perpetually nasty and duplicitous Dolores and Lavinia, who remain as dastardly as ever. This makes Emma and her animal friends' triumph over them all the sweeter! The story is told entirely through dialogue, and the illustrations, done in ink and watercolor, are structured like a comic-book, with panels and speech bubbles. I don't know that they are a personal favorite, from an aesthetic perspective, but they certainly are suited to the tone of the story. Recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed other stories about Emma, and to anyone looking for humorous and witchy Thanksgiving tales for the picture-book set.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginner comic for the season between Halloween and Thanksgiving, that encompasses elements of both holidays.

I liked the good witch who saved the turkey and scared off the bad witches who were treating her and her animal friends so poorly. At the end of the story, the good witch prepares some unidentifiable meal in a cauldron that she shares with her animal buddies.

I wasn't a huge fan of the very rough illustration style, which looked to me more like the storyboards a cartoonist would use to flesh out the story, rather than the finished product.

[J-Lynn Van Pelt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could be used to introduce to children how to read graphic novels. The illustrations look like regular drawings from a picture book, but are drawn in frames and the text appears in speech bubbles with no other narrative. The story of two mean witches who take adavntage of a nice young witch is entertaining and the good wins in the end.

The illustrations are watercolor and pen in muted fall colors. They have an unrefined, bursting-out-of-the-lines quality that may appeal to younger kids, but may appear messy to some readers.

[J9 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute story, but more cartoon bubbles with words than pictures. Hard to keep the kids interested. We've read a few of these other ones but we liked some of those a little better.

[Jennifer (JenIsNotaBookSnob) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a dull Halloween book because there are just so many great ones in that category. Now, Thanksgiving unfortunately has the most lackluster picture books ever, so, by comparison, this is a great Thanksgiving picture book.

What makes it a great Thanksgiving book? It has nothing whatsoever about pilgrims in funny hats or misappropriated native culture. Neither gets a mention in this book, which makes it an awesome book to read if you are stuck reading a picture book about one of the more problematic holidays.

In this book, two witches bemoan that Halloween is over and trick Emma and her animal friends into cleaning up for them. In this book, Thanksgiving is just a meal with friends.

It's a bit too wordy and tries a bit too hard, but, for the Thanksgiving category it beats a lot of others out there. I personally can't resist a witch book, so, that nudged it up a star for me.

[Little Batties · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Stevenson's Fried Feathers for Thanksgiving was written in comic book form, which was an interesting choice for a topic of this nature. It was different, and it added an extra oddness to the story that made this more original. It didn't read as your typical Thanksgiving story. It was one, but it had a spooky season twist and the comic vibes made it even more fun.

The story itself was okay. It could teach the little ones about the power of kindness, and it could also bring about questions on ying and how to overcome bullies. This story has a moral of finding out who your real friends are and what can happen when you are kind (or when you are not). Overall, this was fun, and I can see little ones enjoying this during the month of November.

[Maggie Ignasiak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This probably would have received more of a 3.5, if that was a possibility. I think a 4 for personal use and preference, but a 3 for use in a library storytime setting. It's more appropriate for an older crowd, since there are words that are inappropriate for younger children, so you could easily sub out words like silly for stupid. There's also a lot of pictorial subtext, which I usually prefer with an older crowd.

[Brandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had no idea this was a series (thanks, Goodreads). It’s interesting looking back on holiday books from the 80s. Here two witches try to fool friendly forest creatures into cleaning their house and stealing their Thanksgiving meal. I liked how it’s all told in speech bubbles, almost like early graphic novels. It kinda makes me want to put it on my GN shelf for a minute. No historical or cultural pieces shared here, just a big meal. I can’t figure out if I want to unhaul or not, we shall see.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little mix of Halloween into Thanksgiving. I like the way James Stevenson puts together a story/book! I'd think kids would enjoy it.

[Heatherterrybell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Childhood favorite!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a funny Thanksgiving tale featuring a sweet witch named Emma and her friends as well as two selfish, mean witches named Dolores and Lavinia. The story is entertaining and the illustrations are in a graphic novel or comic strip format. We really enjoyed reading this story together. I didn't know that this story was part of a series and we'll have to check out some more of the stories.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some bullying, trickery, and meanness involved. The "victims" fight back by pulling a trick of their own. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with that response. But it does open up the opportunity to discuss how to deal with bullying, etc., and whether that was the best method to deal with it.
I think it might be a little more funny for a 4 or 5 year old than it was for my 3 year old, or perhaps the 3 year old would get the funny part more with repeat readings.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a great book to use in writers workshop. It could help children write a different kind of book. This book is set up like a comic strip, which I think children who like art would enjoy. Personally I think this book would be a great transition from Halloween to Thanksgiving, but I don't approve of how the words dumb and stupid are being used. Bullying is a huge issues in school so this could also be used in conjuction with a bullying lesson.

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A children's book timely for transitioning from Halloween to Thanksgiving. Two crotchety witches lament that Halloween is over and then scheme about how to get a delicious Thanksgiving dinner without preparing one themselves.

[Kara Rull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having absolutely nothing to do with the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, this is STILL my all-time favorite Thanksgiving. As a teacher, I love reading this to my class, giving the witches awful voices and making Emma the sweetest little good witch ever.

[Meadow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert: A couple of the witches are jerks.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Shannon 1987." I absolutely do not remember this book, but I'm sure it was included in the stack of holiday books we had on the coffee table.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoe refers to James Stevenson as "my favorite author."

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written like a comic strip. There are different scenes with different dialogue going on through the pages. This could be used to talk about different ways to tell a story.

[Emily Huffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love James Stevenson!

[Miri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two witches try to get a Thanksgiving meal without doing any work by tricking a friendly witch.

[Matt Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. James Stevenson has written better books, but this one's fun.