The money we'll save

Title:

Author:

Summary:

In nineteenth-century New York City, when Pa brings home a young turkey in hopes of saving money on their Christmas dinner, his family faces all sorts of trouble--and expense--in their tiny apartment.

General Note:

"Margaret Ferguson Books."

Edition:

1st ed.

Physical Description:

1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 27 cm.

Genre:

Christmas fiction.

Picture books.

Subject Term:

Families -- Fiction.

Apartment houses -- Fiction.

Turkeys -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Farrar Straus Giroux,

Publication Date:

2011

ISBN:

9780374350116

Publication Information:

New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011.

Call Number:

P COLE

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002630161	Holiday Picture Books	COLE	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

One of Horn Book 's Best Picture Books of 2011
When Pa brings a turkey poult home to fatten for Christmas dinner, he assures Ma that it will be no trouble since it can live in a box by the stove and eat table scraps--and just think of the money we'll save! But it's not quite so simple to raise a turkey in a tiny flat in a nineteenth-century New York City tenement. Can Pa and the children manage the willful and growing Alfred and keep the neighbors happy until Christmas? Pa finds a solution for every difficulty--until he encounters one that threatens to ruin Christmas completely. How the family joins together to solve this last difficulty makes for a very funny and satisfying holiday story.

Author Notes

Brock Cole is the author/illustrator of many picture books and young adult novels. He lives in Buffalo, New York.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 1-When Ma sends Pa out shopping, she cautions him to get only flour and eggs, as the family of six needs to save every penny in order to have a decent Christmas. Instead Pa comes home with a hungry young turkey that he aims to fatten up in time for the holiday. Alfred, as they name him, makes messes in and around their tiny tenement flat, angering everyone in the building. He does get fat in time for Christmas, but by then the family members can't bring themselves to eat him. Their solution is heartwarming if not entirely satisfying; some readers might feel that eating cantankerous Alfred would have been preferable to the meager holiday that the family celebrates. Cole's humorous illustrations bring to life the crowded conditions in a 19th-century New York tenement building; the characters are raggedy and poor, but full of spirit and good will.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this charmingly loopy tale set in a cramped 19th-century tenement, Ma sends Pa to the market to buy eggs and flour ("Christmas is not far off, and we must save every penny"). He returns, however, with a scrawny turkey, vowing to fatten it up for Christmas, proclaiming, "Think of the money we'll save!" The bird eats everything in sight, wreaks havoc in their apartment, and annoys the neighbors, but when it's time to bring him to the butcher, the children protest. Creating a strong sense of the historical setting, Cole's (Good Enough to Eat) wispy pictures play off the ample comedy in the prose, making for a holiday story as humorous as it is touching. Ages 4-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.