Maggie the Cat Loves Pip’s Thanksgiving Surprise
Maggie the Cat Book 2
Children’s Book
Date Published: October 15th
Publisher: Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.
Wonderful illustrations bring us back up to Grandpa’s mountain farmhouse for a Thanksgiving homecoming. Pip will soon have a Thanksgiving surprise, but what exactly will it be? Will it have to do with the treats in the oven? Pecan pie with oatmeal? Cornbread? Dutch apple pie? Mmmmm, they all smell so good!
Will it have to do with a new park for all of the children to play in, being built at a neighbor’s farm? Wow! A brand new park where everyone, and I mean everyone, is working very hard. Will it have to do with little Barney who is the littlest goat ever and who is really working hard and chomp chomp chomping away to make the park soft and free of brush?
Or finally, will it have to do with Pip’s best friend ever, Maggie? Read along, and let’s find out together. We don’t have that long. Thanksgiving is coming very soon!
Fun Learning Games
About that time, Daddy enters the room and says, “Why don’t we go sit in front of the fireplace on the sofa and play our learning games?” I say, “Yes! Yes! Yes! I am good at our learning games.”
Daddy said, “First, remember when we played the fives game?”
I jumped up out of my seat. I said, “I know, I know. We both do it and see who can do it faster.”
“Okay, let me go first,” said Daddy. He stood up tall. He looked straight at me and proceeded to say in a very loud voice, “5, 10, 15, 20.” Then, he paused, and he said, “25, 30, 35, 40.” Again, he paused and finished with 45 to 55 to 65 …all the way to 100.
Then, I stood up. I looked at Daddy and said, “Here I go.” I took a really, really big breath in, and really, really fast went, “5, 10, 15 …100.” I went even faster than Daddy, so I won. So, there!
Next, Daddy said, “Let’s work with the calendar.” He explained to me that Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. We went over to the wall calendar that we had hung near the back door, and Daddy showed me the month of November. He found the first Thursday and put his finger on it, then he went to the second Thursday, then the third Thursday, and finally he put his finger on the fourth Thursday. I learned that Thanksgiving would be Thursday. The calendar also showed all the other months of the year, and I could proudly name them all. I closed my eyes, didn’t look, and I said them all really, really fast.
Here we go!
JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugust
SeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember
There you go!
Finally, we decided to go to the kitchen and inspect my latest learning project. I am growing rock candy! We run and look at the corner in the kitchen below the cabinet, and we see it. There is a jar and a string. Growing on the string is my rock candy! Yes, it has a boatload of crystals. That means it is growing. Soon, it will be ready to eat! Oh my!
I look out the kitchen window. I see the little golden leaves continuing to fall. There, by the window, Grandpa has placed a peck of Mutsu and a bushel of Golden Delicious apples. He also has placed a five-pound bag of pecans that he will bring to Mr. Cecil for his Thanksgiving pies later that afternoon. Then, all of a sudden, I hear something very interesting and run to the back door to see what it is. I think I know …
Could it be? Would it be?
About the Author
Julia Russo spent many winters in the mountains along with her little dog, Chloe, and her sweet husband, Kent. She continues to live in Atlanta but her heart is really in those woods.
One of her favorite things ever was hearing her first graders read aloud. She sometimes wrote for the government and companies, and later wrote descriptions of homes. She even spent time as what is called a roustabout!
After her debut book, Maggie the Cat Who Came Home for Christmas, released in 2023, Julia is excited to continue the series. She visits her mountainside cabin often. One of these days, she’s hoping to get a little goat.
Leave a Reply