11 Fantastic Thanksgiving Picture Books
As Halloween drew to a close, I started getting flooded with requests for Thanksgiving books.
I compiled this list of Thanksgiving books several years ago but have updated it this year. I’ve taken some of the Thanksgiving books that previously appeared on this list off (ones that inaccurately depict the events of 1621 or are very one-sided) and added several that are more inclusive of Native voices.
I’ve been doing a ton of reading and research on this topic and feel hugely inadequate to even begin to address this, but if you’re interested in Native perspectives on Thanksgiving, Oyate is a really great resource.
American Indians in Children’s Literature is also a fantastic site that is a wealth of information about books for children that depict Native Peoples and recommends or doesn’t recommend many titles (and helps you understand why some books are problematic and why others are worth reading with your children or students).
I have as much to learn about this topic as anyone and it’s a work in progress for me to become better informed and more aware of the myths and stereotypes that surround this holiday (which is a day of mourning for many Native people).
These eleven Thanksgiving books for kids celebrate Native voices, gratitude, the changing seasons, and gathering with friends and family for a feast.
If you know of other great Thanksgiving books, I’d love to hear!
My favorite Thanksgiving books
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet
This is, hands down, my favorite Thanksgiving picture book (so much so that I wrote an entire post about it, which I rarely do about picture books). Melissa Sweet’s illustrations always blow me away, plus in this book, you get to see her amazing research and writing chops too. The Macy’s Parade is a Thanksgiving staple, but I had no idea how it got started, and this book made watching it even more fun.
This book does a great job giving context for the first Thanksgiving feast and how the interactions between the European settlers and the Native Americans were sometimes peaceful and collaborative and other times violent and hostile. The illustration are beautiful in this one too – I bought a copy for my collection this year!
If you’re looking for a gorgeous picture book, the kind you’ll have as a display all season long, this is the one. Makes me almost love the idea of living somewhere with snow (except, you know, not really).
This gorgeous book, which garnered an impressive list of awards when it came out last year, focuses on the word “otsaliheliga” which is a Cherokee word that means gratitude and how the Cherokee Nation celebrates a year, starting in the fall when a new year begins.
I love this cute little story about a mouse who goes to get a single pea from the leftover Thanksgiving feast, but then he starts getting more and more things, leaving him ill-prepared to run when the cat makes an appearance.
Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, illustrated by Lee Harper
This one is more than 10 years old but we read it for the first time last year and my girls thought it was HILARIOUS as the turkey tries to avoid detection by disguising himself as other farm animals in an attempt to NOT be the main dish.
Sarah Hale worried that Thanksgiving Day was dying out and she made it her personal mission to make it a national holiday. She spent 38 years writing letters to five U.S. presidents in a row, attempting to convince them, but she didn’t succeed until Abraham Lincoln finally responded to her letters during the Civil War. This book is one of those magical biographies that is well-written, interesting, and even funny. (Sarah Gives Thanks is another excellent biography about Sarah Hale).
This book is more than 20 years old, but does a beautiful job sharing the Thanksgiving Address that the Iroquois use in an annual ceremony giving thanks.
This little board book has been a favorite Thanksgiving book at our house for the past few years – we actually own two copies! It’s just a sweet little love note to babies that smell like cinnamon and spice and are just as delicious as a good slice of pumpkin pie.
This was our VERY favorite Thanksgiving book last year and my 3 year old asked for it on repeat for weeks. It’s such a sweet story of a modern Native American family and what Fry Bread means to them and their history.
And if you’d like a printable copy of this Thanksgiving book list that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
Any Thanksgiving picture books to recommend? I’d love to add to my collection, which is nowhere near as good as my Halloween or Christmas collection.
I really like Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story by Pat Miller. The illustrations are so charming and cozy. It’s a simple story of a family preparing for Thanksgiving and is about food, family and togetherness.
I would make sure to add some titles actually about THANKSGIVING, the original feast day. There are many wonderful options, for all reading levels. the first Thanksgiving was a group of Christians (who came here seeking religious freedom and in the process also helped establish democracy in the new world, which somewhat directly led to the worldshaking Declaration in 1776– which led to the freedom we know & love in the West today… so yeah… worth remembering), who had survived horrors and terrors, thanking a real & personal God for His care. They were thankful for their Native allies as well as particular Native American friends such as Tisquantum, usually called “Squanto,” and so invited them to feast as well. They had a peace treaty with these “Indians” which was unbroken as long as any of the signers of either side were alive. Also worth remembering. Squanto’s testimony was one of miraculous providence. Again, worth remembering. Thanksgiving, like it or not, was from the beginning about thanking GOD for His provision, not just having a general “thankful” feeling. So yeah… let’s teach our kids honestly and include books about the holiday’s origins. “Squanto & the Miracle of Thanksgiving” by Eric Metaxas is my favorite books along these lines but there are SO MANY other good ones. “Thanksgiving Mice” is a good one for littles. And of course there are many that also talk about the holiday as it was celebrated around the US over the next 400 years, including Louisa May Alcott’s “An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving” or “A Pioneer Thanksgiving.”
My grandgirls and I loved Balloons on Broadway. When I taught 1st and 2nd grade, I read 2 of my favorites to the kids. Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin is a fun story with a mystery about who is after Grandma’s cranberry bread recipe. The recipe is at the end and, of course, I made it and served it to the kids. The other one is Eve Bunting’s A Turkey for Thanksgiving as others have mentioned,. After the reading I had the kids write a letter to Mrs. Moose from Turkey starting with “Here are the reasons you should NOT eat!” I saved this list of reasons from a little girl in my 2011 class. “You should not eat me because: I am cute 2. I like mooses. 3. I am clean. 4. I taste bad. 5. I am really a duck! Gobblingly yours, Turkey
I reread them both now to the grandgirls. Happy Thanksgiving!.
Thanks for updating this and sharing what you’re learning. I’m on a similar journey and so want to do right by our brothers and sisters who have been marginalized. I really admire and respect your willingness to do this on your professional platform. 🖤
My Thanksgiving favorites are Turk and Runt and Sarah Gives Thanks: How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday.
I’d love to know which books got taken off your list!
Thank you so much for updating your list and removing problematic titles. I work at a public library and recognize the importance of this.
Thanksgiving at the Tappleton’s is our favorite! I read it as a child too.
At Thanksgiving I like to add books about other courageous people who came to America in the years after the Pilgrims. They show how the beautiful diversity in our country came to be. When Jesse Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest and P.J. Lynch is a beautiful book and I love Grandfather’s Journey by Alan Say too (it won the Caldecott Medal in 1994).
Thanksgiving at the Tappleton’s is one of our favorites, too. And The Night before Thanksgiving is such a cute and fun story, too.
I really love The Thanksgiving Door, by Debby Atwell.
A Turkey for Thanksgiving
Turk & Runt: A Thanksgiving Comedy
‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
How Many Days to America?
The Great Thanksgiving Escape
What a great list of books! We enjoyed In November. BalLoons Over Broadway looks so fun! I am linking my toddler’s favorite thanksgiving books, if interested!