The Great Thanksgiving Escape by Mark Fearing

Mr. Fearing captures the claustrophobic feeling everyone feels in a crowded house during the holidays well.  Two cousins, Gavin and Rhonda try to escape to the out of doors but must dodge drooling toddlers, dogs, pinching and kissing aunts, dedicated football fans and scary teenagers.
Although Mr. Fearing is accurate in portraying how family gatherings may feel at times and I chuckled a few times, I did not care for this "darker" view of a Thanksgiving celebration.
Strategies: inferring, sequencing
Warnings: Rhonda calls the teenagers "zombies" and says, "They'll eat our brains as an appetizer!".