Thanksgiving Books

I've mentioned before that I am a big reader when my eyesight is working properly. As a teacher, I would have little chats with my students about what I was reading, when and where I read, no matter what subject I was teaching at the time. I was honored to have several parents each year tell me that I had made a difference and their child was now reading for pleasure and asking to go to the library. Besides talking about books and authors, I also would have a little "story time" once in a while if the story fit in with what we were learning. Folktales from a certain place, a book of architectural drawings when we were learning about European architecture, and holiday stories at pertinent times of the year. It seems like there are movies, books and stories for every holiday. I have a few favorite Thanksgiving picture books that I would pull out each year when I was teaching.

Turkey's Gift to the People is an interpretation of a Navajo folktale. It is written and illustrated by Ani Rucki. Briefly, it is about Turkey, who kept seeds in his tail feathers. When a horrible drought came and everything died, the people were able to replant with the seeds that Turkey shared as he swept open his tail. I had a little craft project that I would do with it also. Everyone received a tagboard turkey that was a basic outline of parts. We used all sorts of dried beans and seeds to cover the entire turkey. Some of the kids would make gorgeous mosaic patterns!
I really loved the story Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende & Harry Devlin when I was a kid. I loved the illustrations and wanted to live in the house! I wish I hadn't donated it to the library and still had it to take pictures to show you. It's a funny little mystery about Grandmother's secret cranberry bread recipe being stolen by one of her Thanksgiving guests.There are Cranberry books featuring Grandmother and Maggie for other holidays as well.

Eating the Plates: A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners by Lucille Recht Penner, is a really interesting non-fiction book that has great historical illustrations. Did you know that these early settlers used fingers instead of forks, slept on the dinner table, drank beer instead of water, and washed clothes only twice a year? of course, that was standard practice all over Europe, not just the Pilgrims! I would read bits of this book aloud when we had a few extra minutes and the kids were always fascinated and sometimes horrified, by daily life in the 1600s.

The day before Thanksgiving is usually a half school day and many students don't attend, so I always read Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey, author of the very successful Captain Underpants series. The illustrations are bright and fun. Using the same rhyme scheme as the famous Christmas poem, a class takes a field trip to a turkey farm and play with the turkeys on the day before Thanksgiving. Later in the day they are horrified to realize their new turkey friends will soon be on someone's table for the holiday! Read the book to find out what the kids do to save their new friends!

You may have noticed that the book titles are linked to Amazon.com. I have signed up for their Associate Program. Since I write about books and other products from time to time I thought it wouldn't be distracting to people like pop-ups and if they were interested it would be a quick link. And I would make 2 cents, maybe! Let me know if it's a problem or doesn't work.