The Great Thanksgiving Escape by Mark Fearing

Some Thanksgiving Humor for This Holiday Season

It’s Thanksgiving, and that means all the family is going to Grandma’s house. Gavin is dressed in his best sweater vest and tie, and ready to be bored. His parents put him in the room with the babysitter, and tell him to wait there until he’s called for dinner.

“Have fun!” Gavin’s dad called.
But Gavin knew it was not going to be fun.
Not fun at all.

In The Great Thanksgiving Escape by author/illustrator Mark Fearing, (Candlewick Press, 2014; $15.99, Ages 3-7), Gavin resigns himself to spending his day with drooling, milk-spilling, block-throwing little kids. But his boredom comes to an end when his cousin, Rhonda, emerges from under the coat pile and coaxes a reluctant Gavin to make a break for the swing-set out back.

“The way I see it, Gav,” she said, “is that sometimes you have to make your own fun.”

There are many obstacles between the two escape artists and their desired goal. Cheek-pinching aunts, zombie-like teenagers, and The Great Wall of Butts (adults standing in front of the football game on T.V.), must all be dodged en route to the swings.

Mark Fearing is no stranger to illustrating picture books. He has several award winners under his belt, including The Book That Eats People, The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot, and How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans. He’s even written and illustrated a graphic novel, Earthling!, but this is the first picture book that he has both written and illustrated. I’m guessing, it won’t be his last.

Fearing has captured the spirit of Thanksgiving from a child’s perspective, both physically and emotionally, though there’s plenty of grown-up humor as well. His illustrations, done in pencil and completed digitally, are of adult shoes, hemlines, and grabby hands in a palette of fall colors. The children’s excited faces are seen peeking over the counter tops at baked goods. Their wide-eyed excitement turns to sad eyes of disappointment, when an ill-timed rainstorm almost spoils their fun. Almost. As Gavin says:

“The way I see it, Rhonda, is that sometimes you have to make your own fun.”

This picture book is a good place to start having fun with your young ones this holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving!

Click here to download an activity kit.

– Reviewed by MaryAnne Locher