THE THANKSGIVING TREASURE

by Gail Rock ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 1974

From TV specials into print with (in at least one case) no noticeable changes in dialogue or sequence: two cockle-warning seasonal stories about Addle Mills growing up in Clear River, Nebraska, with bitter, parsimonious Dad and a fussy but loving Grandma whom the other kids consider a ""character."" The Christmas story is the weaker of the two, being all about how Dad, who refuses Addie a tree because it reminds him of his dead wife, relents after Addie gives up the classroom tree she has won. (She delivers it during the night to a ""poor"" girl, the only other pupil without a tree, after Dad hits the roof over her bringing it home.) In The Thanksgiving Treasure Addle wants a horse and gets one in the end, but mostly this is about how -- inspired by her teacher's story of the pilgrims' inviting their ""enemies"" to Thanksgiving dinner -- she sneaks a meal out to a growly old recluse her father has been feuding with for years, then gradually by bossy persistence becomes friends with the old man and his horse Treasure, which is hers when the old man dies. Addie's rough cut personality and simple Nebraska school and home life will disarm most antisentimentalists, and Gehm draws her plain, as she might have been, without any stylish/nostalgic improvements.

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 92

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION