FRIENDSGIVING

An autumnal celebration of friends and gratitude, minus story and historical context.

Siscoe’s text follows a group of anthropomorphic animals who are enjoying the fall season. As time passes and their numbers grow, they decide to get together for a meal. Although this gathering includes overt offerings of thanks and the menu has some hallmarks of the traditional American Thanksgiving feast (a pumpkin pie, roasted squash, cranberry sauce), the centerpiece of a roasted turkey is not there (there is no flesh of any kind). Also missing are any references to particular historical context, and any whitewashed references to Pilgrims and Indians are mercifully absent from words and pictures. Ultimately, however, there’s little to sink one’s teeth into in terms of story. Gibson’s illustrations, which are photographed dioramas with intricate settings, are more engaging, with the animal-doll characters positioned against hazy autumnal settings of a hill’s summit, a farmers market, an orchard, a garden, and then interior scenes of the titular “Friendsgiving” gathering. Children will likely enjoy them more than they will engage with the plot, which mostly involves bland conversations about foodstuffs, including one spread in which the characters marvel at the variety of apples they pick and another in which a mild debate over the superiority of apple pie versus apple crisp is resolved with the chipper agreement that both are delicious.

Ho hum. Please pass the next book.