As November brings Thanksgiving celebrations for those of us in the U.S.
I’m happy to offer up this little bouquet of titles.
Each helps us focus on gratitude, their pages brimming with abundance, welcome, and warmth.
I’m posting these on the early end in hopes you’ll be able to share them together
well before the feast day has come and gone.
The Blue Table, written and illustrated by Chris Raschka
published in 2020 by Greenwillow Books
All the sunny warmth of that inviting cover image burbles throughout this joyous account.
A dinner table is a convening space for family and friends, togetherness and sharing, for the pleasures of good food and gratitude. This brilliant narrative focuses our attention on that communal location, in this case a round, cerulean blue table. From a bird’s eye view we observe a little family’s early morning breakfast there, then the busy preparations happening on its surface throughout the day — apples being put in a pie, flowers being arranged, a cornucopia of food being prepared.
At last the table expands with a new leaf and is set beautifully to welcome others who gather around a lovely, generous feast marked by thankfulness. I loved this remarkable piece of picture book perfection for little ones aged 2 and up.
We Give Thanks, written by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier
published in 2021 by Beach Lane Books
Charming, delightful, with a lovely ladleful of whimsy, there is certainly nothing starched and stuffy about this perky call to giving thanks.
And what a lovely variety of items to be thankful for — mittens and hats, dogs and cats, trees laden with apples, shrubs redolent with roses.
A lighthearted litany of good things skippets through these pages, illustrated with Ruzzier’s typical verve and good humor in a zesty array of tutti-frutti sherbet-colored scenes. The final pages bring us around to thankfulness for food leading to the grand invitation to eat up!
Tremendously jolly, this will lift spirits and charge up the thankful energy in readers ages 3 and up!
All We Need, written by Kathy Wolff, illustrated by Margaux Meganck
published in 2021 by Bloomsbury
To be grateful requires an awareness and relishing of what we are given. For those of use who are at ease in the world, much of this can fly beneath our radar. This insightful book shines a light on the abundance many of us experience, drawing out gratitude for these splendid, foundational pieces of life.
Air, water, the freedom to learn, shelter, food, family and friends — astonishing riches we can take for granted if we’ve never been at risk of losing them entirely. In pleasant, rhyming verse these treasures are brought to our attention.
One last thing we need is the opportunity to share. The community meal depicted here makes this book a great option for a November read.
Without a whiff of pedantry or sermonizing, this small book elevates the beauty of both thankfulness and generosity. Happy, richly-diverse scenes draw us into a whole world of nice folks. Ages 3 and up.
If you’re looking for more Thanksgiving-centric books, do check out all the titles I’ve discovered over the years on my Thanksgiving list here.
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