Youngsters will want to visit Goode's (When I Was Young in the Mountains) holiday table again and again, for some of the best Thanksgiving fare in many seasons. From the 4:00 a.m. alarm that wakes Grandma and Grandpa on the title page to the pair kicking off their shoes after the last guest has left, the lively couple strikes the perfect balance between hosts and team captains. Grandpa in his bow tie and suspenders and red-headed Grandma in heels and apron greet narrator Maggie and her family (Maggie's auburn-haired Mom is clearly the blood relation) and put them to work in the kitchen ("We all love to cook at Thanksgiving"). The happy hubbub unfolds through kinetic vignettes of the guests' arrival (the families wear color-coordinated outfits, for easy tracking) and everyone pitches in, building to a horizontal spread of mismatched tables and chairs where "we all have a place." Other visual subplots include a stray dog who joins the fray and finds its owner by the end, and a gift from one of the guests (clues to its contents appear throughout) presented in the penultimate spread. This tale bursts with the bounteous food and festivity that define the holiday. Ages 3-8. (Sept.)
