Duck for Turkey Day

Duck for Turkey Day is a multicultural children's book written by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Kathryn Mitter,

This book is about a Vietnamese girl, Tuyet, who goes to school in America where she learns about all of the traditional things that happen on Thanksgiving, including the food we eat and all of the things we associate with Thanksgiving. When she has her Vietnamese family over, she soon realizes that her family does not eat turkey on Thanksgiving, but duck. Tuyet thinks her classmates will think she is weird so she tries to get her family to buy a turkey so she will fit in. At Thanksgiving, Tuyet realizes that she loves eating the duck even though it is out of the normal. When she returns back to school and her teacher asks how everyone's turkey day was, Tuyet found out that her classmates also have many different traditions in their family too. Tuyet realizes that they all have one thing in common; family!

The genre of this book is Contemporary Realistic Fiction. The actions in this book could happen in real life and the characters are realistic. This book is intended for Preschool-1st grade.

Classroom Activity

I think a great activity that coincides with this children's book would be to have each child bring in a dish that is traditional in their family that is not traditional in all families. Each child should bring a family member and they can all try the different dishes and learn about each one and the culture that it comes from. It will teach the children to learn about other cultures and they may find a new dish that they want to make in their own home!

This book can be used as an example to show children that all families are different. It teaches them that because people come from a different background than you does not make them weird or unusual. I think this is a great book to read a young child to let them know early in life about the different cultures in the world.

St Leo's University has a core value of respect, These activites correspond with this core value because it teaches children to respect other diversities that they may come across in their lifetime. 

Reader Response Questions

What kind of foods does your family eat on Thanksgiving?

Do you think Tuyet should have been embarrassed to be eating something nontraditional?

Do you think it is important to learn about different cultures?

         Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyoBHDhDFzujP6043FjEBkg. "Duck for Turkey Day." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Sept. 2013. Web. 06 Sept. 2016.

       Jacqueline Jules (Goodreads Author), Kathryn Mitter (Illustrator). "Duck for Turkey        Day." Goodreads. Albert Whitman & Company, 1 Sept. 2009. Web. 06 Sept. 2016.