My Homework is in the Mail

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Grade 3 student Samantha (“Sam”) Higgins
moves with her parents from Vancouver to a farm located near Spring
Lake, B.C. If the family’s “roughing it” experience works out, the
farm will become their permanent home. Sam immediately misses not only
her friends and the conveniences of “home” but also, oddly enough,
going to school. (The farm’s distance from Spring Lake and the threat
of heavy winter snows oblige Sam to study via correspondence.) Sam is
dismayed when her mother, continuing a family Thanksgiving tradition,
gives her four paper turkey feathers along with the instructions to
write one thing she’s thankful for on each feather. At first, Sam
finds this task impossible, but as the holiday approaches, she discovers
she has made four new friends: Caleb, the old man from the neighboring
farm; the initially obnoxious Donny and Dana, twins from Spring Lake;
and Mrs. Gilly, her correspondence teacher.

While the book’s title and cover illustration accurately represent
one portion of the book’s episodic plot, the more dramatic story line
focuses on Caleb’s caring for an injured Canada goose and Sam’s
concern that he will be arrested for keeping a wild bird. The book’s
black-and-white illustrations reflect the story’s changing moods and
action. Recommended.