“Bubbly Jock Jack” A book Review about Thanksgiving dinner alternative.

A book with the potential to turn into a Thanksgiving tradition in my family, this is the first thing I thought when I finished reading “Bubbly Jock Jack” by Lori A. Armstrong.

A story that entertains, a story that relates to an American tradition, and a story that also provides a nice ending with a twist to consider other alternatives to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

Bubbly Jock Jack is actually the name of the main character, a wobbly turkey that loves to witness the daily activities on a farm, and seems pretty happy with his life. Until of course, the day he finds out people eat turkeys on Thanksgiving day. He then proceeds to be part of the daily activities of the farm to prove his worth. So he goes from sitting on chicken eggs to herding animals.

All along, the story is entertaining and flows easily. The author captures your imagination using fun and descriptive adjectives such as “long noodle like legs” and “ooey gooey honey”. The illustrations by Jubayda Sagor also help put more flavor into the story as they bring Bubbly Jock Jack to life in a very colorful way.

By the near end of the book, comes my favorite part, a nice surprise I wasn't expecting. I found a paragraph with the following words “The little boy quickly sat down and at that moment realized we are all different.” In the book, Bubbly Jock Jack is told that in that farm, no one eats meat, instead of having a Turkey for dinner on Thanksgiving day, they eat “Tofurky” a meat substitute. It turns out Bubbly Jock Jack lived on a Vegetarian farm.

I personally love books that address some kind of diversity and include other ways of living that are not a majority in our society. As of now, this is the first book I come across that addresses a Vegetarian lifestyle. I’m sure Lori’s book will help create acceptance and tolerance towards those people and children who don’t eat meat. And for sure, this book is a good candidate if you are looking to diversify your children's bookshelves.

This is a formal book review and the opinions expressed are purely my own.