Children's Books discussion

In November, the Picture Book Club will celebrate Thanksgiving!

This book also becomes a Master List and General Discussion for picture books about Thanksgiving. An older discussion of children's books for Thanksgiving can also be found here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks for Thanksgiving
How Many Days to America?: A Thanksgiving Story
Gracias The Thanksgiving Turkey
'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving

Corduroy's Thanksgiving
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie
A Pie for Thanksgiving
The Pumpkin Pie Thanksgiving Puzzle
Dinosaurs' Thanksgiving
Dana Dinosaur's Thanksgiving - A Rhyming Children's Picture Book For Children 4-8 Years Old
Thanksgiving at Obaachan's

We don't really have thanksgiving in Briton. But in the farming communities I've lived in we have a harvest supper on the first night of harvest which differs depending on your main crop; Michaelmas for Geese, 4th Oct corn, August for orchards, July for hay ((also known as scarecrow day cos the kids get to make scarecrows out of last years musty left over hay)) anyhoo here are some nice autumn books that celebrate a British autumn one of the brambly hedge ones (though I cant remember which) does have a harvest festival.
Hope these help.
Animal Seasons: Squirrel's Autumn Search Squirrel's Autumn Search
Autumn is here! Autumn is Here!
Autumn Story (Brambly Hedge)by Jill Barklem Autumn Story
Autumn Story: Primrose Meets The Harvest Mice (Brambly Hedge) by Jill BarklemAutumn Story: Primrose Meets The Harvest Mice

Since our Thanksgiving is coming up in less than a week (Canada), I am going to list mainly Canadian Thanksgiving books. It would be nice if at least one of the choices were Canadian or simply about harvest festivals in general.

A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841 (amazing book, but with lots of text, more for older children, although younger children might still enjoy having the fictional parts read to them)

Thanksgiving Day in Canada

Thanks for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Celebrating Harvest

The Fall Gathering: Woodland Adventures (wonderful counting book that also celebrates a Native American fall gathering/thanksgiving celebration, for younger children)

This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story

Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Thanksgiving: With Turkey, Family, and Counting Blessings

I will be voting for whatever I see nominated, that's in my library, that is more universal than US Thanksgiving. Because I think that's more interesting.

At least one of the already nominated books is, I think, a bit long. Kathryn, I remember we had a problem when the theme was poetry. Do you want to set a guideline?

These are all books I used in my 3rd grade classroom:

1607: A New Look at Jamestown

Sarah Morton's Day: A Day In The Life Of A Pilgrim Girl

Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy

On The Mayflower

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving

Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy In Pilgrim Times:

Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620

The First Thanksgiving

Cheryl wrote: "I will be voting for whatever I see nominated, that's in my library, that is more universal than US Thanksgiving. Because I think that's more interesting.

At least one of the already nominated bo..."

I think up to fifty pages would be fine, but longer than fifty, perhaps not.

Gundula wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "I will be voting for whatever I see nominated, that's in my library, that is more universal than US Thanksgiving. Because I think that's more interesting.

At least one of the alrea..."

Since this is a "picture book" reading group, most of these types are limited to 32 pages, if I remember right. Otherwise the text gets too complex.

Tricia wrote: "Gundula wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "I will be voting for whatever I see nominated, that's in my library, that is more universal than US Thanksgiving. Because I think that's more interesting.

At least ..."

I think we generally allow books that are up to around 48 to 50 pages, but not longer than that.

Elspeth wrote: "We don't really have thanksgiving in Briton. But in the farming communities I've lived in we have a harvest supper on the first night of harvest which differs depending on your main crop; Michaelma..."

Just to clear up harvest festival is not celebrated Briton wide; it is largely Church of England within England thing, its not celebrated in the South African C of E churches and had never been celebrated in Australia when my husband left in 1983. Harvest festival is in no way related to thanksgiving but is a Victorian revival of ancient celebration.

"some of our members are located in other countries where Thanksgiving is celebrated in different ways and at different times"
Kathyrin, I would be highly suprised if Thanksgiving is celebrated outside the Americas. If I have understood rightly Thanksgiving is a celebration of the pilgrims survival in the new world.

THANKSGIVING is a north american event not a world wide event could you please clarify if the books you want nominated are to be about THANKSGIVING or simply about harvest.

Elspeth wrote: "Elspeth wrote: "We don't really have thanksgiving in Briton. But in the farming communities I've lived in we have a harvest supper on the first night of harvest which differs depending on your main..."

I think North American Thanksgiving traditions are actually a combination of many different ones, for US citizens, the story of the Mayflower pilgrims, of course, but for both Canada and the US, European harvest traditions brought over by settlers from different areas, along with some Native American harvest traditions are also important aspects of the celebrations (cranberries are definitely Norh American and some of the traditional North American Thanksgiving foods are North American/Native American in origin, like squash and corn for example). I think even the whole concept of consuming turkey is probably related to the British, German and other European traditions of eating roast goose in fall (I know in Germany, St. Martin's Day on November 11th also usually means consuming roast goose).

I can very warmly suggest, A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841. Although this book is set in Canada, the preparations for the Thanksgiving feast would most likely also have been practiced by American pioneers of that time (and I am actually not even all that sure that the whole story of the pioneers and Squanto would have been part of even an American Thanksgiving in the middle of the 19th century, just like the dates for Thanksgiving were also not standardised until much later).

Thanks for the nominations and questions!

When I created the poll with the "Thanksgiving" theme for November, I assumed it would be for books about the American Thanksgiving, either historical about the pilgrims and the "first thanksgiving" or books about the Thanksgiving holiday as it has evolved. Of course, the nominations are open and if folks would like to nominate books about Canadian Thanksgiving or other thanksgiving feast traditions that is okay with me especially as the theme is simply "Thanksgiving" I think the diversity would be interesting. But I do think we will mostly focus on American Thanksgiving traditions.

Regarding length, I actually feel this question needs to be addressed more broadly and will do so in Group Business. Please head there to join the discussion :-)

OK Kathryn, I looked for some younger books just for you. The age recommendations are my own, based on what I remember about the length and complexity of the texts.

Snappy Little Thanksgiving (ages 3-6)
Feast for 10 (toddler - age 5)
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims (ages 3-7)
Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit! (ages 2 -5)
One Is a Feast for Mouse: A Thanksgiving Tale (Mouse
10 Fat Turkeys (about 3-7)
Run, Turkey, Run!
10 Turkeys in the Road (about 3-7)
Thanksgiving Mice! (ages 2 -5)
This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story (ages 3-6)

Fair enough. I agree that there are lot of diverse motifs that can be picked up even if our focus is tightly on American Turkey Day.

Maybe another year we can do a more broad Harvest. And of course we have already done Farming and Gardens.

It's all good.

I love:

Feast for Ten by Cathy Falwell (great for young kids)

Thank You, Sarah :The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Hales Anderson (god for older kids)

I'm looking forward to reading Thankful, by Eileen Spinelli.

Feast for 10
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving
Thankful

I haven't had much time to look for titles, but I was aware of a couple of thematic lists already:
. Best Children's Thanksgiving Books (almost exclusively picture books, although that is not a requirement)
. Secular Thanksgiving Picture Books (not that I had altogether noticed the religious angle to this holiday before)

As for my suggestions otherwise, I think One Is a Feast for Mouse could be a good choice for younger children.
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade is a really good book that is also a good break from the otherwise typical turkey tale.
The Thanksgiving Story for something classic.
Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation is one I was really impressed with, a couple of years ago.
Finally, Over the River and Through the Wood is one I always like for Catrow's zany illustrations.

I see many of my favorites on the list, including "Balloons Over Broadway", "Thank You, Sarah" and "Thanks for Thanksgiving" :-)

A few other recommendations

For very little ones:
The Thanksgiving Bowl

For appx. ages 4+:
Turk and Runt: A Thanksgiving Comedy
The Firefighters' Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving at the Tappletons'
A Turkey for Thanksgiving
Cranberry Thanksgiving
The Memory Cupboard: A Thanksgiving Story (maybe a little older, ages 8+)

Older kids:
Nickommoh!: A Thanksgiving Celebration

It's now time to VOTE! Please chose the six books you would most like to read with the group and post your choices in a comment below. You are welcome to vote for any of these books (official nominations messages 2-20) you like, though I will strive to balance books for younger and older readers in our official selections.

Votes will be accepted until October 18th. Thank you!

The Fall Gathering: Woodland Adventures

Thanks for Thanksgiving (Heather Patterson)

The Memory Cupboard: A Thanksgiving Story

A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841

This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story

Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

Hey y'all, a tip for those who want a little help seeing which nominees are in their library system (and are on a PC):
See the right side of this page, under the ads, where it says "books mentioned in this topic." Click on "more" to get the complete list. Select and print, then compare to your library's online catalog.

Btw, I absolutely love all the the Cranberryport stories, like Cranberry Thanksgiving, by Wende Devlin and Harry Devlin. I've made most of the recipes, and the cranberry coffee cake is in regular rotation.

But - I'm not sure how widely available they are, and they are definitely for slightly older kids, not wobblies or toddlers, due to length of text.

Just saying, because I do recommend them all, but won't be voting for it here. :)

Thanks for the tip, Cheryl!

And glad to find a fellow Cranberryport fan ;-)

Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation, because too many of us are confused by the misrepresentations that we grew up with, and it looks like Diane Stanley took pains here.

Feast for 10 for multiculturalism and for little ones.

'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving for Dav Pilkey's humor.
OR: Turk and Runt: A Thanksgiving Comedy

my votes:

Thanks for Thanksgiving (Julie Markes - I would have liked to read the Canadian Thanksgiving-themed one by Heather Patterson, but it's not available in our library system)

Over the River and Through the Wood (we are huge fans of David Catrow's illustrations and I'm really looking forward to reading this one!)

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons'

One Is a Feast for Mouse: A Thanksgiving Tale (Mouse

The Memory Cupboard: A Thanksgiving Story

We are also big fans of the Cranberryport series, but I voted for books that we haven't read yet...

14 Oct update - just realized that you asked for six votes, so here's #6 for me:

Sarah Morton's Day: A Day In The Life Of A Pilgrim Girl

A couple of notes for the Master List:

I just found Thanksgiving: Why We Celebrate It The Way We Do during my search for what books I wanted to vote for. It's too late to nominate it, but it's good to add it to our list here.

A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841 and Autumn Story were previously selected for the October 2012 - Harvest-Time and Pumpkins reads for our group here at Goodreads. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't discuss either of them again, but there are some good discussions at that link, too.

My votes for littler readers:
Thanks for Thanksgiving(Markes)
Feast for 10
Thanksgiving Mice!
This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story

And older readers:
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving
A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims
This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story
One Is a Feast for Mouse: A Thanksgiving Tale (Mouse
Thanks for Thanksgiving (Markes)
10 Fat Turkeys
10 Turkeys in the Road

My votes:

The Memory Cupboard: A Thanksgiving Story

1607: A New Look at Jamestown

Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy

Sarah Morton's Day: A Day In The Life Of A Pilgrim Girl

If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620

Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

I'm going to give my votes to


Cranberry Thanksgiving
Over the River and Through the Wood (the Catrow one)
One Is a Feast for Mouse
The Memory Cupboard

Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation
Balloons Over Broadway

Oh, almost missed the cut off to vote. Here are my votes:

For younger readers:
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims
Over the River and Through the Wood
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie

For older readers:
Cranberry Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving at Obaachan's
Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

The votes are in! Here are the books we will read together in November:

Suitable for Younger Readers:
Thanks for Thanksgiving
This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story
One Is a Feast for Mouse: A Thanksgiving Tale (Mouse
Over the River and Through the Wood
(illustrated by Catrow)

For Older Readers:
The Memory Cupboard: A Thanksgiving Story
Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

I hope that all of you will be able to obtain the titles before the post-Halloween Thanksgiving rush sets in at the library! I see a few of my favorites on the list, and a few that are new-to-me, and I'm happy that several will be ones I can share with my son. Already thankful for such great books to read, and a wonderful group of folks to discuss them with ;-)

Also, I can't believe I forgot to post this earlier, but here's one that deserves to be on our Master List:

Duck for Turkey Day

Here's my review: 4.5 STARS
Tuyet and her classmates focus on turkeys, turkeys, turkeys in class leading up to Thanksgiving. When class is out before the Thanksgiving break, Tuyet's teacher even wishes them "Happy Turkey Day!" But when Tuyet gets home, she finds out that her Vietnamese-American family is having *duck* for Thanksgiving! Tuyet is crushed. How will it be a real Thanksgiving feast without turkey!?

This is a sensitive and engaging story to which many children will probably be able to relate, no matter their cultural background. I think pretty much everyone has had an experience when they felt that they were the "odd one out" or that their family didn't do things quite like other families. Tuyet clearly loves her family and wants to be respectful of their traditions, but she is so used to hearing about what is "popular" for Thanksgiving and her worries are so touching and vivid. The part where she brings her little turkey from class (crafted of a pinecone and paper) to the dinner table so that a turkey will be present is just, wow! Of course, there is a wonderful resolution with her family, and also with her teacher who clarifies that Thanksgiving isn't really about the turkey, and her classmates who reveal some surprises about their own Thanksgiving dinners! ;-)

Note: While the book does focus on meat-based holiday meals, I was happy to see that one of the girls in Tuyet's class has a tofu "turkey" for Thanksgiving. It is hard to find Thanksgiving books for vegetarians/vegans, so this was nice to see.

I'm late posting for this Thanksgiving but some of you might still be interested, or check it out next year...

Mental Floss (wonderful magazine!) had a fascinating article about how Thanksgiving traditions used to more closely mirror what Halloween festivities are today:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/71033/...

As I looked to find if it was online so I could share with you all, I found numerous other articles from the magazine relating to the Thanksgiving holiday. If you do a search for "mental floss thanksgiving" you'll find them. Fascinating stuff!

I thought I'd also post this one, as it relates to our earlier discussion about whether other countries celebrate a thanksgiving holiday:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/60261/...

Thanks!

I just found another annotated short-list of a blogger's favorite Thanksgiving picture-books, including The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell which sounds wonderful - emphasis on gratitude more than on Pilgrim history.

Over the River & Through the Wood: A Holiday Adventure by Linda Ashman is a clever and sweet modern adaptation of the famous poem. Unlike the Favid Catrow adaptation, which has the original poem, but these strange amd frenetic ilustrations that, in my opinion, do not work at all, in this version, Linda Ashman has updated the poem (four related families traveling via different means to grandmother's house for a holiday that could either be Thanksgiving or Christmas, getting stuck near the end of the trip and being collected by a horsecart, neighhhh, and finally dropped off at grandmother's house). Poem and illustrations are fun, and while modernised, keep the tone, cadence and family togetherness of the Lydia Maria Child's text. You have to be observant though. I was half way through the book when I realised that this was not about one family, but four families. The text is a bit unclear regarding this, but the illustrations show four separate families (but I somehow missed that the first time, being not always that observant with regard to illustrations).

I just enjoyed Giving Thanks: The 1621 Harvest Feast, photos from a re-enactment that attempts to tell more accurate history. Includes extensive author's notes and glossary.

Cheryl wrote: "I just enjoyed Giving Thanks: The 1621 Harvest Feast, photos from a re-enactment that attempts to tell more accurate history. Includes extensive author's notes and glossary."

That's from Plimoth Pawtuxet. They have a whole series of them. A good one from the Wampanoag perspective is 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving

Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story is a new one from the Indigenous community explaining why they helped the Pilgrims. It's a good explanation about their cultural and religious beliefs.

I read

Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story

This book takes place in the 19th century, probably when Thanksgiving was made a federal holiday. It's told in rhyme as the boy directs the family to each do something to contribute to the feast. The boys gets involved in the middle of the story quieting the baby and making Pilgrim crafts (black hat with buckle).

The illustrations resemble folk art and reflect a mid to later 19th-century household and their traditions.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's nice to see the family coming together to prepare and eat the meal but it's also old-fashioned. I would have loved this as a kid but today's older kids are more critical and want more modern, diverse books. This one is better for little kids to show what Thanksgiving is like.

Several books are sold out in Plimoth Patuxet's gift shop as they close the museum for the winter. You can see which books are popular now.

https://www.plimoth.com/collections/c...

Thank you for the posts. I was so disappointed not to find any new (or new-to-me) Thanksgiving picture books that looked appealing at the library. Hoping for something special next year!

QNPoohBear wrote: " A good one from the Wampanoag perspective is 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving ......"

OKC library system bought 13 of these! It looks wonderful and I'm looking forward to enjoying it and then spreading the word.

The Kate Waters books and 1621 are older, books I read when I was younger but enjoyed. Debbie Reese and co. are dismissive of the Kate Waters books without really reading them. They're literally a day in the life of an English child and don't include Natives because they didn't encounter one another. Children stayed behind the palisade walls, they obeyed their parents and elders and did what they were told.

The Mayflower & the Pilgrims' New World is a good one to read for Thanksgiving too.