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Product Description It's Thanksgiving, and that means it's time for...football! Ethan has waited his whole nine-year-old life to be old enough to play in the annual family Turkey Bowl football game. This is his year. He wakes up Thanksgiving Day, dresses in all of his football finest, and runs downstairs to greet the team -- his whole family. But the kitchen isn't full of aunts and cousins and uncles -- a blizzard has snowed them out. And it looks like the Turkey Bowl just isn't meant to be this year. After all, who could play football in a blizzard? Ethan, that's who! From School Library Journal PreSchool-Grade 2—The duo who created Shoeless Joe and Black Betsy (2002) and The Shot Heard 'Round the World (S & S, 2005) offer another sports story. Every Thanksgiving, Ethan's relatives arrive and, through mud, cold, or fog, they play a wild game of football. Ethan and the neighborhood kids watch the action and long for the day when they can join in. The year that they are finally old enough to play, nine-year-old Ethan leaps out of bed and into his uniform, only to discover that a blizzard has closed roads and the family won't be coming. The disappointed boy gathers his friends and they trudge to the school football field, now covered in snow. In the "ah-ha" moment of the tale, they realize that they have enough kids to play themselves, and the wild and joyous snow-filled game that ensues carries on the tradition of the Turkey Bowl. As Ethan catches a final touchdown pass, he realizes that his relatives have indeed made the trip and are cheering him on from the sidelines. Payne's muted, full-color illustrations capture the disappointment and joy the characters experience and feature plenty of gridiron action. Perfect for reading aloud at holiday time, this lively story will resonate year-round with sports fans.— Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist For his first eight years, Ethan hasn’t been old enough to play in his family’s annual Thanksgiving football game. But he’s got memories aplenty, like when it was so cold they called it the Ice Bowl, and when it was so rainy it became the Mud Bowl. Finally old enough to play, Ethan bounds downstairs only to be dismayed by the news that a huge snowstorm has made the roads too dangerous for the family to get through. He and the neighborhood kids glumly watch an empty, snowed-out field, until Ethan decides they can have their own game no matter the conditions. The story bounces from exuberance to despondency and right back, much like the best football games. Payne’s paintings have a suitable old-timey, Norman Rockwell–esque quality to them, with plucky kids bedecked in ancient leather helmets and too-big pads. A nostalgiac tribute to one of the great sports traditions of all time: the marriage of turkey and tackling shared by families on Thanksgiving. Grades 1-3. --Ian Chipman About the Author Phil Bildner is a former New York City public school teacher who lives in Newburgh, New York. He spends much of his year visiting schools and libraries around the country and world. He is the author of over twenty books including the middle grade novel A Whole New Ballgame and picture books Marvelous Cornelius, The Soccer Fence, The Hallelujah Flight, and Twenty-One Elephants. Along with Loren Long, he is the coauthor of the New York Times bestselling Sluggers series. Visit him online at PhilBildner.com.