Picture Books for Thanksgiving

I Knew an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie & Beauty and the Beaks

Oct 17, 2009

These two variations on well-known themes will add joy, colour and fun to Thanksgiving feasts and fall celebrations.

Alison Jackson's I Knew an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie and Mary Jane Auch's Beauty and the Beaks are fun wonderfully illustrated books provide Thanksgiving entertainment for young and old. The first, I Knew an Old Lady... follows the rhythm of the children's song "I Knew an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" so closely that it creates a new Thanksgiving theme song. The second, Jane Auch's 2007 poultry parody of Beauty and the Beast puts a colourful spin to a well-known fairytale.

I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie is a fun Thanksgiving variation on the children’s song “I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly.” It is smartly illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner with paintings of a little white-haired woman who grows bigger and bigger with everything she eats. A cat on a leash, two children and some surprised adults populate the images as well and add visual emotion to the old lady’s feats.

The story, by Alison Jackson, begins with a well-dressed granny-type woman standing on the doorstep: “I know an old lady,” – turn the page – “who swallowed a pie, a Thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry. Perhaps she’ll die.” It continues on through cider, “that rumbled and mumbled and grumbled inside her,” a roll, a squash, salad, turkey, a pot, a ten-layer cake and finally bread. I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie ends more positively than the song on which it is based: “I’m full,” she said,” and becomes a balloon in the Thanksgiving Day parade.

Mary Jane and Herm Auch’s book Beauty and the Beaks – A Turkey’s Cautionary Tale is a humourous tale of how two esthetician chickens save Lance the Turkey from becoming Thanksgiving dinner. It is colourfully and creatively illustrated with photographs of hand-made mannequins with needle-felted wool wings, yarn hand feathers, polymer clay beaks, eyes and shoes, and sewn costumes. The text is peppered with egg-play and chicken jargon: eggspire, eggsposed, wattle I do.

Beauty is Beauty and the Beaks’ heroine. She runs the farmyard beauty parlour The Chic Hen and leads the efforts to save Lance. Since she is the only chicken that can actually fly, she tries to teach Lance to do the same so that he can escape, but to no avail. Next she gathers the hens together to create a hen ladder for Lance to scale, but the plan once again ends in defeat. Finally, Beauty decides to give Lance an “eggstreme makeover” complete with a facial, wig, hat, clothes and tail-feather plucking.

Book Reviews

I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie is a fun light story for Thanksgiving especially, but also for anytime throughout the year. Children will enjoy Judith Byron Schachne’s illustrations that wonderfully capture d the amazing eating exploits of a little old lady. It would be a great story to read to children as part of a Thanksgiving celebration.

Beauty and the Beaks is a delightful book. Children and adults will admire the illustrations and enjoy the text. It is a great read for Thanksgiving as well as a wonderful book about animals. Beauty and the Beaks is one of many of Mary Jane Auch’s great poultry parodies which include Chickerella, Hen Lake, Peeping Beauty and The Nutquacker.

Book Details

The copyright of the article Picture Books for Thanksgiving in Picture Books is owned by Melissa Morelli Lacroix. Permission to republish Picture Books for Thanksgiving in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.