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Guest Blogger Lydia Breiseth is the manager of the bilingual English-Spanish website Colorín Colorado, whose mission is to provide educators and parents with information about teaching English language learners to read and succeed. Ms. Breiseth began her career teaching English to adults in Ecuador with the educational exchange program WorldTeach, and has subsequently taught English and Spanish in a variety of educational and family literacy programs to students of all ages. Prior to working at Colorín Colorado, Ms. Breiseth served as the Community Affairs Liaison at Telemundo Washington DC, managing outreach initiatives to the region’s Hispanic community.
Last year, I had the opportunity to interview children’s author and school librarian Jacqueline Jules. In that interview she discussed the new book she was working on, Duck for Turkey Day:
(The book) was inspired both by my students and my own experiences. I heard from my students that they didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving with traditional turkey and stuffing, but ate holiday foods from their birth countries.
It reminded me of when I was a child. We didn’t always celebrate holidays the way other people did. For example, my Swiss father liked to have a duck or goose on Thanksgiving because he didn’t like turkey. So I created a story that reflects that diversity of tradition. We don’t all do things the same way, and it’s important for students to know that the way their family does things is o.k. and interesting and important — just as o.k. and interesting and important as the traditions that they see around them.
The book is now out, and it is beautiful. The heartwarming story about the unique ways we each celebrate our traditions is particularly poignant in the United States, where we are all pulling in different cultural and family traditions into one big melting pot.
Duck for Turkey Day speaks to the anxiety that children – and often adults – may feel when they don’t do things the way that everyone else does. The main character, Tuyet, is so excited for Thanksgiving, but when she learns that her family will be having duck instead, she becomes very worried. It’s Turkey Day, after all – not Duck Day!
Tuyet’s teacher assures the class, however, “It doesn’t matter what you eat on Thanksgiving, as long as you have a good time with your family and friends.”
What an important lesson for all of us, to always remember who we are and to celebrate the ease with which families from around the world blend, adapt, and learn traditions old and new from each other in our wonderfully diverse nation.
The range of traditions is reflected in this comment from Karina, a Colorín Colorado visitor:
Traditionally, many Thanksgiving dinners take place during the daytime where the family can enjoy both the pleasure of an early dinner and football. However, in my Mexican-American family, Thanksgiving dinner takes place late into the night. The television is never on and the excitement of seeing friends and family is clearly evident from all the chatter. Why do we patiently wait so late into the night for dinner? It has nothing to do with turkey. It’s all about the quality time spent with family and yes, the tamales are also worth the wait!
For some other Thanksgiving children’s books that celebrate different traditions and perspectives, take a look at these booklists from Colorín Colorado and Reading Rockets:
Thanksgiving Tales
www.colorincolorado.org/read/forkids/thanksgiving
Let’s Give Thanks
www.readingrockets.org/articles/books/c362
Ten Books for Thanksgiving
www.readingrockets.org/articles/books/c359
Happy Thanksgiving!
