Rose’s Reviews > The American Girls Handy Book: How to Amuse Yourself and Others > Status Update

"The pleasant New England custom of the gathering together of families to celebrate Thanksgiving is now observed in most of our States."

Wow, I never realised that not all American states celebrated Thanksgiving this late.

Apparently if peanuts are "strung together with needle and thread, and dressed in costume with black thread for hair, they make quite a good-looking Japanese."

Decorate your dining room by sticking some corn on the cob on a black velvet board and hanging it on the wall. For that optional extra touch, why not bronze it?

"...although funny, it is at the same time a little dangerous to catch a lighted candle in one’s teeth...

Dig up plantain weeds, tie sweets to the roots of all but one, and tie a bit of coal to the last. Bury them in sand and make your friends take it in turns to pull up a plant and see if they got the lucky coal that promises them good fortune. Of course, you must then make the lucky coal into a "pretty charm for the watch-chain" by "having it cut to a proper size and shape, and a gold or silver band put around it".

"To turn a hen’s egg into an owl has not before, I imagine, been thought possible; yet it is easy enough, and requires but a very short time to accomplish the transformation."

Russia is a "great, cold, furry country".

"How nice it would be if we could take a peep into these foreign countries, and discover what else Easter brings the little ones besides the pretty eggs, and also how the people of such widely differing nations keep this happy festival common to all."

Make sure you take a minimum of 11 friends with you when going on a walk to ensure your safety.

Looking forwards to chapter XIX, which details "Rules for Nutting-Parties".