Any time of year is a good time to be thankful — but now, especially, gratitude is on everyone’s mind. These picture books about the history of the land we call home, our families and our friends remind young readers of all the beautiful facets of Thanksgiving and how very much there is to celebrate.
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Marcie Colleen’s warm, festive tribute to a “mismatched feast” that welcomes all, with shared tasks and company, highlights how friends love and care for one another. (Courtesy/Doubleday Books for Young Readers)
“Happy Friendsgiving” by Marcie Colleen, illustrated by Laura Sandoval Herrera. (Ages 3-7. Doubleday Books for Young Readers. $18.99.)
Thanksgiving arrives in a flurry of footsteps, cars, buses and airplanes, as friends coming from down the street or across the country travel to celebrate “the day that brings us all together.”
Marcie Colleen’s warm, festive tribute to a “mismatched feast” that welcomes all, with shared cooking, shared cleanup and shared company, highlights the way friends love and care for one another. Whether the day ends with energetic play outside or snoozing in an easy chair, “our bellies and hearts are equally full.”
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In “Family Feast!” it’s Pops and Big Ma cooking, and relatives converge from all over. (Courtesy/Crown Books for Young Readers)
“Family Feast!” by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Frank Morrison. (Ages 4-8. Crown Books for Young Readers. $18.99.)
Once Pops and Big Ma start cooking, the family feast is underway — and relatives pack into their home: “After miles of anticipation/ finally, the destination./ Sisters, brothers, daughters, sons./ Kisses, hugs for everyone.”
In addition to the kisses and hugs, there’s glorious food, from the fish Pops fries to Bill’s collard greens to the turkey, ham, and chicken and dumplings that grace the table. The swinging rhyme pays tribute to the laughter, excitement and love of a bustling, full-to-the-rafters home during the holidays, and the exuberant illustrations invite readers to the table.
“Food and family makes us one,” this feast for the eyes and ears reminds us. “Tastes like home when family meet;/ a bond so warm, so strong, so sweet.”
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In “This Land,” a little girl recognizes, and reminds us, that many families were here before hers — starting with Native people who loved and appreciated the land that nurtures us. (Courtesy/Crown Books for Young Readers)
“This Land” by Ashley Fairbanks, illustrated by Bridget George. (Ages 4-8. Crown Books for Young Readers. $18.99.)
The book begins with a simple idea: A little girl reminds the reader that before her family lived here, another one did — and another before them, and another before them. And “before our house was here, there was another family, with a different kind of house — a wigwam.”
Simply but sensitively, “This Land” explains something crucial to remember every Thanksgiving, that Native American people were here before Europeans, and remain here, even now.
To these reminders of deep Indigenous history in America, the book adds a note of love and appreciation for the sacred, living land that continues to nurture us all. “This land all has a history,” the book’s narrator says. “Even my backyard.”
Caroline Luzzatto has taught preschool and fourth grade. Reach her at luzzatto.bookworms@gmail.com.
