Thanksgiving books for children

November 11, 1:59 PMRoanoke Homeschooling ExaminerRebecca Capuano

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Prepare your kids for Thanksgiving with the right books!
morguefile.com

Don’t let this Thanksgiving become an educationally neglected holiday, passed over in the anticipation of the “more important” season of Christmas. With a few simple books, you can give this beautiful holiday of gratitude its due, while teaching your children the history surrounding some of the first colonists along the way. The following are highly recommended books to support your endeavors in preparing your children for the Thanksgiving holiday:

1. The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgleish. For ages 5-10, this Caldecott Honor book details the story of the Pilgrims’ journey to America, their early struggles, and the first Thanksgiving.
2. An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott. In this family classic, seven children decide to cook Thanksgiving meal when their parents have leave to care for a sick loved one.
3. The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty. For ages 9-12, this Newbery medal author draws on the Pilgrims’ own journals to give an account of their life and traditions in the quest for religious freedom in the new world.
4. Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen. For ages 5-10. A young Jewish immigrant tells her friends the story of Thanksgiving.
5. How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting. For ages 4-8, this book addresses the challenges the Pilgrims faced as they left what was familiar in their journey to America.
6. Fat Chance Thanksgiving by Patricia Lakin. Focusing on thankfulness, this story for ages 4-8 follows a girl, who is a newcomer to a housing project, in her attempts to get everyone in the building together for Thanksgiving.
7. Tattered Sails by Verla Kay. This book, for ages 4-8, follows one family’s voyage from London to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.
8. If You Were at the First Thanksgiving by Anna Kamma. This book, for ages 4-8, offers questions and answers about the first Thanksgiving and life in America in the 1620’s.
9. 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by National Geographic. For 8-12 year olds, this book tells the story of the first Thanksgiving from the perspective of the Wampanoag people.
10. Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes. In this picture book for ages 3-6, a boy and girl give thanks for family and friends.
11. The Story of the Mayflower Compact by Norman Richards. For ages 4-10, this book reviews the story of the Separatists’ travels to Holland and then America, which ultimately led to the drafting of the Mayflower Compact.
12. The Story of Thanksgiving by Nancy J. Skarmeas. For ages 0-3, this board book very simply but effectively recounts the reason we have Thanksgiving, addressing the history of the Mayflower, pilgrims, and Native Americans for little ones.
     

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