I love picture books. My kids are really getting too big for them, but I don't want to stop reading them. I enjoy "little kid" books. Maybe it is because I am a teacher. Maybe because I love to read. Or just maybe it is because I have such fond memories of sitting on the couch, all squished together, reading them to my own kids. Over and over.
I have a stack of books that are holiday-themed. I'm not talking Christmas. I am talking about Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. They are in a bin in the garage with the decorations that I change out for these "minor" holidays. When the month of that holiday comes around, I dig the pile out of the bin, and my youngest daughter reads the books.
One of these books in the Thanksgiving stack is one that I remember reading as a child. I don't know if we owned it, or if I checked it out of the library repeatedly. It is called "Cranberry Thanksgiving." (by Wende and Harry Devlin) I was happy when I got to use that book in my Five-In-A-Row curriculum with my kids. We got to read it every day for a week! It is a cute one, and I will not get rid of it anytime soon. I like reading about Mr. Whiskers. Is he good or bad? You need to read it to find out!
Another family favorite is one that I think we got in a bundle from Scholastic. It is called "A Turkey for Thanksgiving."(by Eve Bunting) I won't give the plot of the book away, but it is funny. We liked reading it over and over. I like the personification of animals in it.
I think we also got "Thanks for Thanksgiving" (by Julie Markes) in the same book bundle from Scholastic. It is cute and I like the rhyme of the story. I like the things that they are thankful for, like "music and dancing and art". "Thank you for Mommy and warm, cozy cuddles." There is even a page in the back where kids can write what they are thankful for.
"The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving" (by Ann McGovern) is a nice, factual Thanksgiving book about the Pilgrims who came on the Mayflower and what their life was like in the first year in the New World. It even discusses what tools they used, and talks about meeting Squanto and how he helped them. It talks about what food they ate at their first feast, which is different from what we eat... no seafood here!
Speaking of Squanto, another book we like is "Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving." (by Eric Metaxes) It discusses how Squanto was taken away from his family as a Native American boy, taken to Spain on a ship. He learned about God from monks in Spain. Eventually, he went to London, England after five years in Spain. He lived there another five years before he went on another ship back to America. I enjoyed this Christian tale of a young man who helped the Pilgrims in so many ways because he learned English!
I hope this post has given you a few ideas of books to find in your library or local bookstore! I hope you will enjoy reading these books with your own kiddos, snuggled on a couch all together.
Are there any books that you would add? Are any of these books ones that you've never read? I'd love to hear your responses!
Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
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