Cold Turkey

PreS-Gr 2–It’s freezing outside, and Cold Turkey gets dressed for the inclement weather. Donning a hat, coat, mittens, snow pants, boots, and a scarf, he heads out to the barnyard. There he encounters his friends who are also feeling the effects of the miserable winter day: Shivering Sheep, Chilly Chicken, Huddling Horse, Quivering Cow, and Polar Pig. Having a kind heart, Cold Turkey shares an article of clothing with each of the distressed animals until he is left with nothing but his boots. The animals feel sorry for the turkey, who is now in danger of getting frostbite. The animal gang joins forces and using wood from a nearby forest, builds a roaring fire. Within no time, they are renamed Stewed Sheep, Baked Chicken, Hot Horse, Sizzling Cow, Roasted Pig, and Toasty Turkey. Told in rhyme, this story features the concepts of friendship, sharing, and problem-solving. It’s a riotous read-aloud, packed with entertaining alliteration, onomatopoeia, and puns. The pencil and digital paint illustrations of the personified animals add humorous details to the story and invite close inspection. The endpapers depict a map of the snow-covered barnyard labeling the route the turkey navigates as he and the other animals find their way to a nearby wooded area where they build the fire that takes them from freezing cold to toasty warm.