Pardon That Turkey

by Susan Sloate, Christian Slade (Illustrator)

Everyone knows about the pilgrims? ?first Thanksgiving.? But do you know how Thanksgiving became a national holiday or why the president pardons a turkey every year? Read along to find out about the woman who saved Thanksgiving, the first pardon, and more!

Genres: Thanksgiving, Picture Books, History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Holiday

48 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2010

About the author

Bestselling author of 26 published books, including FORWARD TO CAMELOT (with Kevin Finn), STEALING FIRE and REALIZING YOU (with Ron Doades). The original 2003 edition of FORWARD TO CAMELOT was a #6 Amazon bestseller, honored in 3 literary competitions and optioned for Hollywood film production. STEALING FIRE, the 2013 #2 Amazon bestseller, was a Quarter-Finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. REALIZING YOU, a 2013 self-help novel, gave her a chance to invent a new genre. Susan has also written 17 young-adult fiction and non-fiction books, including 5 biographies (Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, Clara Barton, and two on Ray Charles), history, and 7 novels for girls' book series. Susan lives outside Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her online at www.susansloate.com.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the story of Sarah Hale, a school teacher from Newport, New Hampshire. After her husband died, leaving her with five children to support, she turned to writing, and published a successful book - Northwood: Or Life North and South, Showing the True Character of Both. She also worked as a magazine editor and wrote the ever-popular Mary Had a Little Lamb.

In 1846, Hale decided to devote her time to pushing for a national day of giving thanks. It was a long struggle. Through the years, she wrote letters to several different Presidents and other politicians. Finally, seventeen years later her dream became a reality when President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

The second part of the book deals with the yearly pardoning of one lucky turkey who evades the dinner table and gets to enjoy life in a petting zoo. 'Tis rumored that Lincoln may have granted the first unofficial pardon to his son Jack's pet turkey, though the first "official" Presidential pardon did not occur until 1989 and was pronounced by George H.W. Bush. (At that same time, I believe there was an attempt made to send Vice President Dan Quayle to live in a petting zoo, though apparently he wandered off and managed to find his way back to the White House.)

This was an interesting read about a little known slice of American history.

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great story! I learned so much from this little book. It is light on picture and it is more of an early reader with lots of words. It has pictures tucked away in the text.

I know the story of Thanksgiving - all my education every focused on. It didn't become a national holiday until the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln - news to me. It was all thanks to Sarah Hale. She wrote letters to 5 presidents before one listened to her. Sarah was the editor of 2 women's magazines and she wrote many articles getting her readers to see the need to a national day to give thanks. Thanksgiving holiday is ALL THANKS TO SARAH HALE. Oh course, a woman would understand the need to gratitude during those divisive times.

There are stories about when the turkey pardon take place, but the tradition of pardoning the turkey began with George H. W. Bush in 1989. I also didn't know this.

I found this book so interesting and I learned so much about our country. I say pass this Book Around! Happy Thanksgiving!!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered how we came to have our national holiday Thanksgiving? This book talks about and explains how we went from the Pilgrims landing in 1620, to now celebrating the national holiday known as Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has not always been a national holiday. A little girl named Sara was born in Newport, New Hampshire on October 24, 1788. At this time, girls were usually only taught to sew, cook, and housekeep. Sara’s mother had higher hopes for her children. Sara’s mother, Martha, taught Sara to read and write and that books, poetry, and songs are a beautiful thing. Sara’s brother Horatio went to Dartmouth College. Even though Sara could not go to college, Horatio came
home from college and taught Sara Latin, math, and other subjects. Sara was able to get a college education without going to and Sara would study for two hours. They studied French, geology, and botany. Sara began to write poetry and short stories and David helped her to improve her writing. In 1822, David fell ill and died. Sara had to figure out how to make a living for all of her children on her own. She wasn’t good at sewing but she wrote every night. After publishing a book of poetry that didn’t go over well, Sara published her first novel and huge success Northwood, in 1827.Soon after Sara received a letter from Ladies Magazine asking her to be the editor and she accepted. Sara went on to write articles, poems, children’s books, and songs, like “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. Soon she decided she wanted to fight for a good cause and decided on making Thanksgiving a national holiday. Sara Josepha Hale worked to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. It took Sara 17 years of writing letters to magazines, politicians, and presidents. She wrote to Presidents Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, and Lincoln. During this Civil War was tearing up the country and Lincoln too say a need for coming together as a nation and giving thanks.

[Kathryn Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do a turkey and a woman name Sarah Hale have in common?  Both the turkey and the woman would probably tell you that they have no idea, if the former hadn't been roasted up for your Thanksgiving dinner, and if the latter hadn't died over a hundred years ago.  Pardon That Turkey, a beginning level chapter book for independent readers, explains it all.  Pilgrims and Native Americans may be the stars of the stories we tell at Thanksgiving, but it was the hard work and determination of Sarah Hale that led to the official inauguration of the national holiday by President Lincoln in 1863.  Because of her remarkable life as a scholar, wife, mother, poet, magazine editor, and lobbyist, we come together every year as a nation to give thanks, and eat turkey.  Learn about her remarkable life as well as the facts and folklore surrounding the yearly presidential turkey pardoning in this interesting and entertaining book.
This is a nonfiction book, which isn't for every kid every day, but Susan Sloate has done a good job of telling a true story like a story, with lots of little tidbits that kids are always excited to learn about.  For example, Sarah Hale wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Who doesn't want to pull that fun fact out at the playground?  I love this story because of the great example Sarah Hale is for young girls.  She valued education and learned all she could and made career opportunities for herself despite her limited resources.  But she also valued family.  She fell in love, got married, pursued her scholarly interests as a housewife until her husband died.  Then she took on the world because of something she believed in deeply.  I am glad to be able to share this book with my oldest daughter to give her a great history lesson and a worthy role model.
http://childrensbooksonadime.wordpres...

[Toneeshia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pardon That Turkey is a nonfiction book for intermediate age children. Pardon That Turkey tells the untold stories of the Thanksgiving holiday. It tells about how Sarah Hale fought for seventeen years to get Thanksgiving to become a national holiday and then how later the tradition of the president pardoning a turkey came about. I feel that this book deserves three stars because it was informative but a bit lack luster. The illustrations have color but appear very neutral with no bright colors and lacking in detail. The two stories told share the theme of Thanksgiving but do not really blend together well, it doesn't really connect the story of Sarah Hale with President Abraham Lincoln possibly pardoning a turkey to President George H. W. Bush actually pardoning the first turkey. As an intermediate aged child I would be confused on these facts. I think the title Pardon That Turkey would draw a young reader to the book but once they began reading they would get a bit disinterested and confused on when the first turkey was pardoned and who pardoned it. I also feel that there was too much of an emphasis on Sarah’s life that had nothing to do with the theme. The book would obviously be great to introduce to a class in November around Thanksgiving.

[Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would work well with Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving - Interesting facts about Sarah Hale, how Thanksgiving was established and when the first turkey was pardoned.

[Sherry Thornberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think I would like this book but I had no idea about the tradition of thanksgiving until I read this. I didn't know it wasn't a national holiday until over 200 years after the first Thanksgiving dinner. I also did not have a clue about Sarah Hale but I found her to be an inspiring woman who bucked the system and educated herself. She is a true inspiration.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great easy chapter book that combined the history of Sarah Hale, who wrote tirelessly to 5 different presidents to have Thanksgiving be a national holiday, and the tradition of the president pardoning a turkey. We ended this read with watching the video of President Trump pardoning the Turkeys Peas and Carrots. The kids LOVED it!

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short-ish book for practicing readers. I didn't know anything about the annual turkey pardon - Americans are weird. :) It was a fun read.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun educational book. It tells the story of how the holiday Thanksgiving came about.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's only one chapter about pardoning a turkey. Most of the book is about Sarah Hale. The title is very misleading. I did learn a lot about Sarah Hale, though....

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an informative book about the Thanksgiving holiday including how pardoning a turkey started. It focuses most on Sarah Hale's campaign to have a nationwide Thanksgiving holiday.
I do disagree with one paragraph;
"Sarah became well-known & respected. Her readers listened to her & began to fight for her causes, too. Instead of believing that their only job was to stay at home and care for their children, women began to believe what Sarah told them. They believed that they could make a difference in the world."

I believe women who stay home and care for their home & children ARE making a difference in the world.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book's two primary focuses were providing a biography for Sarah Hale and providing possible reasons of how the turkey pardoning tradition may have come about.

Reading Level: 1st -3rd

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[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this educational but maybe a bit above my first graders heads. I think a 3rd or 4th grader would enjoy it more.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this on wegivebooks.org. An interesting back story on Thanksgiving that goes beyond the pilgrims and includes a humorous piece on pardoned turkeys.