The Money We'll Save

September 26, 2011
In this charmingly loopy tale set in a cramped 19th-century tenement, Ma sends Pa to the market to buy eggs and flour (“Christmas is not far off, and we must save every penny”). He returns, however, with a scrawny turkey, vowing to fatten it up for Christmas, proclaiming, “Think of the money we’ll save!” The bird eats everything in sight, wreaks havoc in their apartment, and annoys the neighbors, but when it’s time to bring him to the butcher, the children protest. Creating a strong sense of the historical setting, Cole’s (Good Enough to Eat) wispy pictures play off the ample comedy in the prose, making for a holiday story as humorous as it is touching. Ages 4–up.

Starred review from September 1, 2011

When Pa brings home a turkey poult to raise for Christmas dinner, hilarious complications ensue in this heartwarming family story set in 19th-century New York City.

The family of six lives in a crowded three-room flat, and they quickly discover that there isn't room for a growing turkey in their small kitchen. Pa first builds a pen for Alfred the turkey on the fire escape and then a larger pen hung from pulleys on the clothesline. After complaints from the neighbors, Pa moves the turkey into the flat's single bedroom, and the family has to sleep in the kitchen and parlor. When Christmas arrives, the children can't bear to eat Alfred for dinner, so they give him (as a pet) to their downstairs neighbor for her Christmas gift. The cleverly constructed text is full of understated humor and witty dialogue, with a satisfying conclusion describing the family's simple but happy Christmas celebration. Cole's loose watercolor-and-ink illustrations skillfully evoke the old-fashioned setting and busy life of a New York tenement community. He effectively shows the connected clotheslines, backyard privies and outdoor neighborhood markets of another era, and each character has a distinctive personality.

Young fans of historical fiction series will enjoy this, as will anyone who enjoys a funny family story about Christmas preparations. (Picture book. 4-9)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 1-When Ma sends Pa out shopping, she cautions him to get only flour and eggs, as the family of six needs to save every penny in order to have a decent Christmas. Instead Pa comes home with a hungry young turkey that he aims to fatten up in time for the holiday. Alfred, as they name him, makes messes in and around their tiny tenement flat, angering everyone in the building. He does get fat in time for Christmas, but by then the family members can't bring themselves to eat him. Their solution is heartwarming if not entirely satisfying; some readers might feel that eating cantankerous Alfred would have been preferable to the meager holiday that the family celebrates. Cole's humorous illustrations bring to life the crowded conditions in a 19th-century New York tenement building; the characters are raggedy and poor, but full of spirit and good will.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2011
Grades 1-3 In a nineteenth-century New York tenement building, Ma sends Pa to the market for two eggs and a half pound of flourand not an ounce more because Christmas is not far off, and we must save every penny. Pa returns home with a surprise, a scrawny turkey he plans to fatten up with table scraps for the Christmas feast. As he gets deeper and deeper into his sunken-cost turkey scheme, his quick fixes become more and more outlandishthe turkey moves from a stove-side box to a fire-escape pen to a crate hung from a clothesline over the privybut he's always quick to remind long-suffering Ma to think about the money we're saving. Naturally, by the time the holiday rolls around, the bird has made a complete mess of the apartment, wormed his way into the kids' hearts, and gobbled up any spare feast money, so the family (happily) winds up with oatmeal for dinner. Cole's buoyant watercolors capture the busy chaos and warm homeyness of family life plus turkey in this folksy journey into a different time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)