THE KNOW-NOTHINGS TALK TURKEY

Thanksgiving seems like a fine occasion for celebration—but as if “dressing” the salad, mashing the potatoes (with a sledgehammer) and sewing string beans isn’t hard enough, literal-minded noodleheads Boris, Morris, Doris, and Norris (A Know-Nothing Halloween, see above, etc.) discover that they’re supposed to serve a turkey too. First, of course, they have to catch one. Drawn as distinct individuals but sharing a blank expression in Alley’s broadly comic illustrations, the quartet troops off to the woods (marked by a sign: “The Woods”), finally stumbling on to a farm (sign: “A Farm”) where turkeys can be had. Now comes the challenge of getting the big, frantic, evil-tempered bird home, and, even tougher, getting it to sit down at the table to be served. In the end, they give up, leaving the turkey to fend for itself, giving thanks for having such good friends in each other, and digging in. Amelia Bedelia’s fans will gobble this up. (Easy reader. 6-8)