Books like Turkey Claus
By Wendi Silvano
Turkey Claus has your kid howling every time the turkey shows up at Santa's door in a new getup, sure this disguise is the one that'll work. It's the same holiday panic as Thanksgiving, just with snow and a bigger audience. If your kid wants more sneaky costume plans and last-minute rescues, the books below keep that going.
Two kids stuck inside on a rainy day get an uninvited visitor — a tall cat in a striped hat who promises fun and games while their mother is away.
That same rhyme-along bounce carries Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, though the trouble here comes from things falling off a broomstick, not a turkey dodging dinner.
With Thanksgiving closing in, a panicked turkey tries on costume after costume — disguising himself as other farm animals — desperate to avoid becoming the main course.
A little red chicken just can't sit still through bedtime stories, jumping into Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood to save the characters herself, much to her patient papa's dismay.
A Siamese cat who imagines he's a bold Chihuahua bounces into his closet and lands in a snowy make-believe forest, where the seven Chimichangos dare him to kiss a frozen princess awake.
Less holiday scheming, more everyday errand turned wild. When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach keeps the same gleeful what-do-I-do-with-this energy once the payoff lands.
Barnyard animals with their own agenda again, but Thump, Quack, Moo: A Whacky Adventure by Doreen Cronin turns the scheme into full festival sabotage instead of a costume plan.
A girl named Cordelia hosts a proper tea party with her brother, but their guest of honor is a T-Rex whose manners turn out to be more Cretaceous than gracious.
No holiday plot here, just pure make-believe. Not-a-Box City by Antoinette Portis is quieter and simpler, good for a kid who wants imagination without a rescue mission.
A little brown bird gets tired of chirping the same old song as every other bird, dog, and cat in the neighborhood, so she invents a brand-new sound — and it spreads.
A young princess falls ill and declares she'll only get better if she has the moon, sending the king's wisest advisors scrambling until the court jester finds an answer no one else thought to try.
Three friends creep through the woods to catch a beautiful bird with their nets, shushing a fourth companion who has a much gentler idea in mind.
