Child, Lydia Marie illus by David Catrow. Over the River and Through the Wood: A Thanksgiving Poem. Henry Holt & Co, 1999. ISBN 978-0805038255 32 pp.

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David Catrow takes a Thanksgiving classic for a wild ride! The long and stressful holiday road trip to a distant relative’s home, with the car stuffed full of siblings, pets, and food, is a universal experience. In this whimsical picture book, the baby of the family escapes into a joyful, snowy Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where characters, floats and balloons take on a life of their own.

The lively and imaginative scenes keep the pace of rhythm of the text, and Catrow’s cool midseason tones achieve the not-quite-fall-but-not-quite-winter effect. An ideal purchase for the car trip to Grandma’s–or for the sibling whom you used to draw seat boundaries with.