Thanksgiving Thief (Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew Series #16) Book

River Heights Elementary School is having a Thanksgiving pageant, and Nancy, Bess, and George want to dress up as Native Americans! But when the town starts preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, the girls end up smelling a mystery instead of turkey. As Thanksgiving food around town starts to disappear, the Clue Crew realizes that someone is trying to destroy the holiday! Can the Crew catch these birdbrained bandits? Or will Thanksgiving dinner be a recipe for disaster?

Children's Literature

In this mystery, #16 in the "Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew" series, Nancy, Bess, and George are joined by Mary White Cloud, a Native American classmate, who has asked them to play princesses in their school's Thanksgiving pageant. The pageant is followed by a citywide dinner with all the trimmings. Mary explains that each girl must find a bird feather for her headdress; the feather must be dropped by a bird not plucked by the princess. As rehearsals begin, Nancy's housekeeper discovers that the pumpkin puree she uses for her pies has been destroyed. Nancy suspects a classmate, but he turns out to have an alibi. Mysteries abound as turkey stuffing, green beans, and even fresh turkeys turn up ruined. The Clue Crew suspects a dog but he, too, has an alibi. If the culprit is not found, the pageant will have to be cancelled. Nancy figures out that real, wild turkeys have been plundering the food stores, dropping a feather at each crime scene. Her father explains that they have been invading the town because their wilderness has been destroyed and that they need the food for their offspring. Nancy convinces the school to move the turkeys to open land. With the mystery solved, the pageant takes place, each girl wearing a turkey feather. No animals are harmed; no hard issues about Native Americans are raised; no explanations about why the pageant must be cancelled or how the town will prepare the traditional dinner without the necessary foods are provided; no facts about turkeys' actual diets are supplied; no characters are developed; no suspense is authentically ratcheted up; no vocabulary is increased (turkey offspring are called poults') in this updated vintage Nancy Drew. Fans will enjoythis one as much as any other. Reviewer: Cynthia Levinson