Janet Mitsui Brown

A young girl narrates this story of a Thanksgiving celebration at her Obaachan's, or grandmother's house in this seasonal picture-book. Although Obaachan does not speak English, and the girl does not speak Japanese, they manage to communicate with each other, and to enjoy the food and family that this special day brings into focus...

I appreciated the melding of Japanese and American traditions in Thanksgiving at Obaachan's, as the girl and her family enjoy turkey dinner, but also rice cakes and tsukemono (Japanese pickled vegetables). I also appreciated the depiction of a warm and loving extended family, all enjoying their meal together. Janet Mitsui Brown's artwork was colorful and cute, although some of the scenes - specifically, those in which her characters were smiling, showing their outsized teeth - were off-putting to me. The proportions in these depictions were wrong, and the result looked somewhat creepy. Tastes vary, of course, so others might not have the same reaction as I did. Leaving that issue aside, this is one I would recommend to picture-book readers looking for Thanksgiving stories featuring the incorporation of other cultural traditions into the traditional customs of the day. It could be read with Jacqueline Jules' Duck for Turkey Day, which features a Vietnamese-American girl's Thanksgiving experiences.… (meer)