Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving - Softcover

Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity. Her work has earned numerous ALA and state awards. Two of her books, Chains and Speak, were National Book Award finalists. Chains also received the 2009 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and Laurie was chosen for the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award. Mother of four and wife of one, Laurie lives in Pennsylvania, where she likes to watch the snow fall as she writes. You can follow her adventures on Twitter @HalseAnderson, or visit her at MadWomanintheForest.com.

Matt Faulkner is a talented and clever picture-book maker whose dazzling ink and watercolor illustrations have graced dozens of well-loved picture books. On his inspiration for A Taste of Colored Water, he says, "When I was a boy it would've surprised me to learn that the word COLORED hung over a water fountain didn't mean that this was a magical place where fruit-flavored water flowed on demand." This story has grown out of his lifelong exploration of race and societal intolerance and the questions these institutions raise. His more recent work features several titles that focus on United States history, including Thank You, Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson and You're on Your Way, Teddy Roosevelt by Judith St. George. He lives in Oakland, California, with his son.

Grade 1-4-Anderson turns a little-known historical tidbit into a fresh, funny, and inspirational alternative to the standard Thanksgiving stories. Alarmed that the observance was dying out since many states did not observe it at all and those that did had no agreement as to date, Sarah Hale began 38 years of letter writing in support of making it a national holiday. Ignored or refused by administration after administration, she persisted until at last, President Lincoln, possibly persuaded by her argument that it would help to reunite the union, declared the fourth Thursday in November as a national holiday in 1863. The writing sparkles and is well matched by the spirited and irreverent caricatures (including Native people and pilgrims with feathers in their headbands and hats). Lively and provocative sentences involve readers. Anderson doesn't state the facts; she reveals them, unveils them, and celebrates them, and her text certainly shows that persistence and eloquence can succeed. Faulkner takes every opportunity to provide visual humor. He draws Sarah and other ladies storming the doors of the state house with a giant quill pen as a battering ram. His busts of recalcitrant presidents and his graphic depiction of the "other things" President Buchanan had "on his mind" convey complex historical concepts while adding to the humorous tone of the book. A "Feast of Facts" gives more information on Thanksgiving, Hale, and the year 1863, and ends with the exhortation: "Pick up your pen. Change the world."-Louise L. Sherman, formerly at Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
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