September 1, 2009
Gr 2-4-These resources provide the history of and explanations for these special days through a variety of photos and simplified text. Halloween is introduced as coming from the ancient Celtic holiday "Samhain" and the customs of the Catholic All Saint's Day. The book describes how people decorate, dress up, and trick-or-treat throughout the world. Most of the photos show children in their costumes. "King" introduces the civil rights leader's life and his contributions and explains why his birthday is celebrated. Color and black-and-white photographs highlight the man's life, and the book discusses the various events associated with the day, including marches, special church services, and volunteering. Peppas explains that Thanksgiving is a harvest festival that commemorates when the Pilgrims thanked God for their harvest by feasting with the Wampanoag in 1621. The book outlines modern-day traditions such as gathering with family, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and enjoying food and football. A "Did You Know?" blurb on each spread provides a new factfor example, one in "Thanksgiving" describes food drives. Most captions are a repeat of what is previously stated. These are pick-up titles if you need replacements."Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio, TX"
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