Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten Read online

  Laugh out loud with Junie B. Jones!

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  #2 Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business

  #3 Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth

  #4 Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying

  #5 Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake

  #6 Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim’s Birthday

  #7 Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren

  #8 Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed

  #9 Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook

  #10 Junie B. Jones Is a Party Animal

  #11 Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy

  #12 Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy

  #13 Junie B. Jones Is (almost) a Flower Girl

  #14 Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime

  #15 Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket

  #16 Junie B. Jones Is Captain Field Day

  #17 Junie B. Jones Is a Graduation Girl

  #18 Junie B., First Grader (at last!)

  #19 Junie B., First Grader: Boss of Lunch

  #20 Junie B., First Grader: Toothless Wonder

  #21 Junie B., First Grader: Cheater Pants

  #22 Junie B., First Grader: One-Man Band

  #23 Junie B., First Grader: Shipwrecked

  #24 Junie B., First Grader: BOO … and I MEAN It!

  #25 Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May.)

  #26 Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha!

  #27 Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny

  #28 Junie B., First Grader: Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff)

  Top-Secret Personal Beeswax: A Journal by Junie B. (and me!)

  Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School

  Junie B.’s These Puzzles Hurt My Brain! Book

  Check out Barbara Park’s other great books, listed at the end of this book!

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2012 by Barbara Park

  Jacket art and interior illustrations copyright © 2012 by Denise Brunkus

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

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  A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Junie B., First Grader® stylized design is a registered trademark of Barbara Park, used under license.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Park, Barbara.

  Junie B., first grader : Turkeys we have loved and eaten (and other thankful stuff) /

  Barbara Park; illustrated by Denise Brunkus. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Junie B. Jones; #28)

  “A Stepping Stone book.”

  Summary: To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, Mr. Scary’s first grade class prepares a Thankful List for the school contest, but Junie B. Jones finds it hard to be grateful for squash or Tattletale May.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-97435-8

  [1. Thanksgiving Day—Fiction. 2. Gratitude—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction.

  4. Humorous stories.] I. Brunkus, Denise, ill. II. Title.

  III. Title: Turkeys we have loved and eaten (and other thankful stuff).

  PZ7.P2197Jtv 2012 [Fic]—dc23 2011041350

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  For Richard …

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  1. The Contest

  2. Some Thankfuls

  3. Thankful Bags

  4. Diving

  5. Talking It Over

  6. Something in Common

  7. Stinky

  8. Three Squeezes

  9. Socks and Other Surprises

  10. Naming Stuff

  11. The Feast

  12. Happy Turkey Day!

  1

  The Contest

  I closed my journal and thought about squash.

  “Bluck,” I said out loud. “I hate squash.”

  May did a frown.

  “Shush, Junie Jones! Can’t you see that I am still writing?” she said.

  May is the girl who sits next to me.

  I am not thankful for her.

  Just then, my teacher Mr. Scary stood up at his desk.

  “Boys and girls, it’s time to get started on our Thankful List for the school contest,” he said. “Can everyone please put your journals away?”

  “YES!” we shouted back. “YES! YES! YES!”

  Then all the children slammed our journals shut very happy.

  SLAM! SLAM! BAM! SLAM! BAM! SLAM! SLAM! BAM!

  Mr. Scary sucked in his cheeks at us.

  He made us open our journals again. And we had to shut them quietly.

  It was some sort of slamming lesson, I believe.

  Finally, he moved on.

  “Okay. Last night’s homework was to write down some of the things that you are thankful for,” he said.

  He picked up a piece of chalk. “Today I will start printing our Thankful List on the board,” he said. “We will work on the list today and tomorrow. And then we will enter it in the school Thankful Contest.”

  A boy named Roger raised his hand.

  “Do we get a prize if we win?” he asked. “I always try harder if there’s a prize involved.”

  Mr. Scary did a frown at him.

  “We’re not doing this for a prize, Roger,” he said. “We’re doing this to celebrate the things we are thankful for.”

  Roger tapped his fingers on his desk.

  “So is that a yes or a no on the prize?” he asked.

  Mr. Scary stood there a minute. Then, all of a sudden, a smile came on his face.

  We did not expect that.

  “Okay. Fine, Roger,” he said. “I was going to let this be a surprise if we won. But yes. There is a prize for winning the contest.”

  All of Room One perked up our ears.

  ’Cause who doesn’t love prizes, of course!

  “What is it? What is it?” we called out. “What is the prize? Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!”

  Mr. Scary walked back and forth very thinking. He said he was really not supposed to tell us the surprise.

  But then ha!

  He did a wink!

  And he told us anyway!

  “The winning class is going to get a homemade pumpkin pie,” he said.

  He smiled real big.

  “And here is the best part. The pie will be made by our very own lunch lady, Mrs. Gladys Gutzman!”

  After that, all of the children just sat there. And we didn’t say any words.

  Instead, our faces turned kind of sickish. And we slumped way down in our chairs.

  Finally, I raised my hand.

  “Pumpkin pie makes me vomit,” I said.

  My friend Herbert nodded.

  “Me too,” he said. “Pumpkin pie makes me vomit, too.”

  “Me three,” said my other friend named Shirley.

  “Me four,” said a boy named Lennie. “My grandmother’s pumpkin pie sits in my mouth like a big wa
d of goop glop.”

  Roger looked at Mr. Scary.

  “A prize that makes us vomit doesn’t seem like much to shoot for,” he said.

  Mr. Scary sat down at his desk. And rubbed his head.

  “Okay. Let’s just forget about the pie,” he said. “Really. This contest is not about winning a pie. This contest is about appreciating all the wonderful things in the world that we are thankful for.”

  He looked around the room.

  “If we’re lucky enough to win, the real prize will be how proud we’ll feel about doing our best,” he said. “A first-grade class has never won this contest before. But I think this class has a great chance. You are definitely the most creative first graders I’ve ever had.”

  Roger stood up.

  “Now that I believe,” he said. “My brother Rodney was in your class last year. And Rodney is a dolt.”

  Mr. Scary closed his eyes. Then he rubbed his head more.

  This was not going to be a good morning, probably.

  2

  Some Thankfuls

  Mr. Scary moved on again.

  “Okay, boys and girls. Let’s really get started now. If you’ll please take out your homework papers, we’ll begin sharing our ideas. Who would like to go first?”

  I quick pulled out my homework.

  “ME! ME! ME!” I shouted. “ ’Cause I have four excellent thankfuls! And I am not even kidding!”

  Then I sprang up like a spring. And I started to read my Thankful List.

  “First, I am thankful for the turkey I love at Thanksgiving. Second, I enjoy the gravy. Plus, number three, I am thankful for the kind of cranberry jelly that comes in a can … only even when you take it out of the can, it still keeps looking exactly like the can!”

  I looked at my teacher. “That stuff is like magic,” I said. “I do not know how farmers grow it in that shape.”

  Mr. Scary stared at me a real long time.

  I looked back at my list.

  “Oh! And here is my favorite one of all!” I said. “I am thankful for the kind of biscuits that come in a tube. And then you BASH them on the counter! And they come exploding out! And everyone jumps! Plus also, my brother Ollie starts to cry.”

  I grinned real big. “That is just a fun bunch of biscuits.”

  My friend Herbert jumped out of his seat.

  “I can’t believe it, Junie B.! I am thankful for those biscuits, too!” he said.

  He quick grabbed his homework page and held it up.

  “Look! See? It’s right here on my paper! Exploding biscuits!”

  After that, me and Herb did a high five. And a low five. And a medium five.

  Also, we did a fist bump.

  A fist bump is when you knock your knuckles together.

  Sometimes it can be painful.

  May threw back her head at us.

  “Oh no, no, no!” she said. “That cannot be true. Both of you did not write that by yourselves. You copied each other! I know you did! Who in the world is thankful for exploding biscuits?”

  All of the children thought for a second.

  Then, one by one, they all started to shout.

  “I am!”

  “I am!”

  “I am, too!” they shouted.

  My friend named Sheldon Potts sprang up from his chair.

  “Me too!” he called. “One time, I ate SIX exploding biscuits right out of the tube! And they weren’t even cooked yet!”

  All of our eyes popped out of our heads.

  ’Cause that was the greatest exploding-biscuits story we ever heard.

  We looked back at Mr. Scary. His eyes were stuck on Sheldon.

  “You’re a fascinating little boy, Sheldon Potts,” he said.

  “Yes, I know. You keep telling me that,” said Sheldon.

  Mr. Scary smiled. Then he turned to the board. And he wrote the words THANKFUL LIST.

  “Okay, Junie B. How about if you pick out your top two favorites. And we’ll start the list off with them.”

  I stared at my paper very thinking. Then I told him my two favorites. And Mr. Scary printed them on the board:

  1. CRANBERRY JELLY IN A CAN

  2. EXPLODING BISCUITS

  He took a step back.

  “Well, just as I thought. We’re off to an interesting start,” he said.

  He turned back to Room One.

  “As we continue—if you’ve brought a long list—please just pick the two things that you are the most thankful for. Okay?”

  “Okay!” we shouted back.

  My friend named Lennie waved his hand to go next.

  “All right, Lennie. Your turn. Tell us the number one thing in your life that you are the most thankful for.”

  Lennie yelled it out.

  “NIPSY DOODLES!” he said real loud. “I LOVE NIPSY DOODLES!”

  Mr. Scary’s face went funny.

  He did not move for a minute.

  Then, finally, his eyebrows raised to the top of his head.

  “Nipsy Doodles, Len?” he repeated kind of quiet. “Really? That’s the number one thing in your life that you’re thankful for? Nipsy Doodles?”

  Lennie nodded.

  Then he checked his homework just to be sure.

  “Yes,” he said. “Nipsy Doodles is number one.”

  He smiled. “They are a tasty little cheese snack unlike any other.”

  Mr. Scary nodded very slow. “Yes. I know, Lennie. I’ve heard the commercial. And I’m sure they’re very tasty. But—just out of curiosity—what is number two on your list?”

  Lennie’s face started to beam.

  “Number two! Rainbow sprinkles!” he yelled.

  All of Room One started to clap.

  Because the whole world loves rainbow sprinkles, of course!

  Mr. Scary didn’t move again.

  Then finally, he picked up the chalk. And he added Lennie’s two thankfuls to the list.

  3. NIPSY DOODLES

  4. RAINBOW SPRINKLES

  He stepped back and took a big breath.

  “All rightie. Let’s take another look at what we have here so far,” he said. “We have four delicious food items, don’t we? But just remember … there are other things to be thankful for, too. Right, boys and girls?”

  “Right!” we said.

  We thought and thought.

  “Like what?” we said.

  Mr. Scary chuckled.

  “Well, for one thing, in our country we’re lucky to have freedom,” he said. “Freedom is one reason the Pilgrims came to America.”

  He looked around the room.

  “Did anyone put freedom on your Thankful List?”

  All of the children looked at their lists.

  Then everyone shook their heads no.

  Roger stood up again.

  “We’re only six,” he said. “We don’t really have any freedom.”

  He thought for a second. “I’m not even allowed to cross the street by myself.”

  “Me neither,” said Shirley. “I have to stay in my own front yard.”

  José raised his hand. “I have to go to bed at seven-thirty. And half the time it’s still light outside,” he said.

  Herbert stood up, too. “Well, wait till you hear this one! I have to eat cooked carrots or I don’t get a cookie after dinner,” he said.

  Just then, Sheldon slapped his hand on his desk. And he shouted real loud.

  “AND I AM FORCED TO TAKE A MULTI-VITAMIN!” he hollered. “Does THAT sound like freedom?”

  Mr. Scary quick held up his hand.

  “Okay, okay. Calm down, everyone! I get it! I get it!” he said.

  He looked back at our Thankful List.

  Then he nodded at us very thoughtful.

  “Boys and girls, you are absolutely right. You are first graders. And you can be thankful for whatever you want,” he said.

  “This list should be exactly what you want it to be. Not me … not the contest judges. Not anyone else but you.”

 
; He smiled.

  “Thanks for showing me that,” he said.

  “You’re welcome,” we said back.

  We are a polite group.

  Mr. Scary looked happy again. “All right. Who would like to go next?” he said. “And remember. Whatever you say will be perfectly fine with me.”

  Sheldon jumped up.

  “TOILET PAPER! I AM THANKFUL FOR TOILET PAPER!” he shouted.

  Mr. Scary’s eyes got big and wide.

  But he quick snapped out of it. And he printed the words on the board.

  “Number five … toilet paper,” he said.

  Sheldon grinned real excited. “We’re going to win this contest for sure!” he said.

  He did a thumbs-up at Room One.

  Then all of us did a thumbs-up back.

  Except not actually Mr. Scary.

  3

  Thankful Bags

  I put down my pencil. And I looked around the room.

  All of the children had their Thankful Bags next to their chairs. Some of the bags looked emptyish. And some of them looked fullish.

  My Thankful Bag looked middle-ish.

  I picked it up and put it on my desk.

  Then I leaned over. And I tapped on May’s arm.

  “My Thankful Bag is middle-ish,” I said real pleasant.

  May did not pay attention to me.

  I tapped on her arm again.

  “You are probably wondering what is in my bag. But I cannot tell you. On account of it has to stay a surprise until Show-and-Tell,” I said.

  May turned her back on me.

  This time, I tapped on her head.

  “Helpful hint: It is not my brother Ollie,” I said.

  Just then, May exploded out of her seat! And she tattletaled real loud!

  “MR. SCARY! MR. SCARY! JUNIE JONES WILL NOT STOP BOTHERING ME!” she hollered.

  Mr. Scary frowned his eyebrows at me.

  I waved my fingers very friendly.

  “Hello. How are you today? I am fine,” I said. “I was just showing May my Thankful Bag.”

  I held it up in the air.

  “It is middle-ish,” I said.

  Mr. Scary kept on frowning.

  I put my bag on my desk. And I folded my hands very polite.

  “Okay. I guess that about wraps it up,” I said.

  Mr. Scary got a teensy smile on his face.