It's Not About You, Mr. Turkey
A Love Letter About the True Meaning of Thanksgiving
The Love Letters Book Series/ Morgan James Kids
Soraya Diase Coffelt
Illustrated by Tea Seroya

Morgan James Publishing
September 8, 2015 / ISBN 978-1630476366
Children ages 5-10 / Christian related / Holiday: Thanksgiving

Reviewed by Linda Morelli

It's Not About You, Mr. Turkey is yet another gem in Soraya Diase Coffelt's Love Letters Book series, designed to explain the true meaning of various holidays in Christian terms, this time centering on Thanksgiving. Many of us understand that Thanksgiving means family gatherings and turkey dinner. In this release, the author reveals the original purpose of the celebration, with humor and in terms any child can understand. It's a holiday of courage and faith, relating the early arrival of Pilgrims who traveled from England to the New World to worship freely. They placed their trust in God, devised the Mayflower Compact, and in it laid out plans to establish a new colony where people could worship God freely.

The author goes on to explain that many Pilgrims died during their first harsh winter at Plymouth, and that it was through the help of the local Indians that the Pilgrims learned the skills they needed to survive. As a result, the Pilgrims held a thanksgiving event in 1621 along with the Indian tribe, thanking God for their survival and for the Indians who became like family to them.

The author has done an excellent job in explaining the holiday's meaning and purpose, as well as how it became a true national holiday. Filled with beautiful illustrations by Tea Seroya, this is a book that children will love and read over and over again.

Reviewer's Notes: Soraya Diase Coffelt is a lawyer and lay children's minister, and established the non-profit corporation, As the Stars of the Sky Foundation, Inc., to assist the physical and spiritual needs of children. All profits from the sale of her books go toward the foundation.