"The Great Turkey Walk" by Kathleen Karr really has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but because it is about turkeys it seems weirdly appropriate at this time of the year. I love to read this book out loud to my children and they laugh and laugh at my ridiculous southern drawl that I try to imitate. It is a fun and a funny story! I can't describe the book better than the back cover, so that is what I will use:
"In the days before intercontinental railroads, highways, and trucking firms, the only way to ge livestock on the hoof (or claw) to market was to walk it. Many have been the tales of great cattle drives. Hardly anyone remembers the great turkey walks, which required just as many heroics.
During the ninteenth century, feathered herds were routinely walked to Boston and other northeastern cities from surrounding farms. These treks, however, rarely covered more than fifty miles. The epic journeys took place in the West. In 1863 one enterprising gentleman actually walked a herd of five hundred turkeys from Missouri to Denver with only a wagon drawn by mules, the birds, and two boy drovers. Another entrepreneur of the period performed the same feat in reverse, walking a flock from California to the booming Comstock Lode of Carson City, Nevada, earning enough money to establish a famous cattle fortune. These intrepid pioneers were the inspiration for Simon and his enterprise."
Enjoy this book: it is awesome!
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