What is Thanksgiving?

on the heels of trick-or-treating

“What is Thanksgiving?” asked my three year old grandson, River. He was clutching a plastic pumpkin stuffed with candy, taking a brief break from zooming house to house with his red cape flying behind him. He was dressed as a superhero/race car/rainbow tiger, and he was running around after dark with his friends and family, knocking on doors and asking strangers for candy who happily obliged. It was pretty great.

He was asking in all earnestness what he was going to get to do next month, for Thanksgiving. And so I give you my answer to River, in five picture books. I don’t know if sharing a meal with friends, napping (this is a Thanksgiving Day tradition, right?), relatives, pie or football will measure up to the excitement of Halloween night in a three-year-old’s eyes, but it’s still pretty sweet. If you’re looking for more traditional Thanksgiving picks go here, and I review books about gratitude here.

One of Each by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

Oliver Tolliver, a dapper whiskered dog has one of everything, from plate to chair to plum to pear. He’s so pleased with his home that he wants to share it with someone, so he goes out and invites over the first creature he meets, a cat named Peggoty Small who is not impressed. She asks, “Why only one apple? Why only one peach? Why one, simply one, only one, one of each?” There is nothing to host a guest, and so she leaves in a huff.

Oliver sees the error of his ways and buys one more of each thing, then invites Miss. P. back, and after a lovely tea, new friends come to call. Can he share with them all? Oliver takes each fruit and cuts it in pieces. “Even though each person’s piece might be small, eating with friends was the best thing of all.” River, Thanksgiving is feasting with friends, one of Nana’s favorite things to do.

Pookie’s Thanksgiving by Sandra Boynton

Can we all agree that Pookie is just about the cutest name ever? Darling illustrations and fun rhyme tell the story of Little Pook, a pig who helps his mom make pie and prepare the table for Thanksgiving. When his grandparents, Nemmy and Boppa arrive (two more adorable names), he plays outside until dinner is ready. After they eat, each pig says what they are thankful for-things like stars and guitars, weather and being together. What is Pookie thankful for? Pie. “Yes, yes! We are all grateful for PIE!” everyone replies. River, Thanksgiving is pie, and family gathering, and naming the things we are thankful for.

When the Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Although this story is set in summertime, it’s such a great picture of what it looks like to have a bunch of family crammed into one house for an extended period of time. “The relatives” come from Virginia in a station wagon and when they arrive “It was hugging time. Talk about hugging! . . . They hugged us for hours.” The family crams in the house and we see them from outside, filling every window pane. “You’d have to go through at least four different hugs to get from the kitchen to the front room.” There’s so many of them not all can fit at the table so they spread out to talk, and at night some sleep on the floor. “It was different, going to sleep with all that new breathing in the house.”

They stay a couple weeks, tending the garden and fixing broken toys and eating strawberries and hugging and eating and breathing together until it is time to go back home. River, Thanksgiving is about spending time with family, and making room in your home for more people than normal and breathing together.

The Napping House by Audrey Wood and Don Wood

Oh how my kids loved this book when they were little. It starts on a rainy day with a napping house, where everyone is sleeping. “And in that house there is a bed, a cozy bed in a napping house, where everyone is sleeping. And on that bed, there is a granny, a snoring granny on a cozy bed . . .”

With each page turn someone piles on to that cozy bed. A dreaming child snuggles on top of granny, than comes a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, and a slumbering mouse, until, “on that mouse there is a flea . . . Can it be? A wakeful flea on a slumbering mouse . . .” The flea bites the mouse, who scares the cat, and so on, until everyone is awake. The illustrations gradually get lighter so that by the time Granny wakes up, the room is bright with yellow light and they all go outside to play. River, Thanksgiving is taking a wonderful nap, and then waking up to play, play, play!

The Longhorn Alphabet by RT Young, illustrated by Andreea Chele

Living in Austin as a University of Texas alum, the big game on turkey day is a Texas football game. This alphabet book has all the A to Z’s of UT football, and a lot more. Young writes about sports with the same kind of passion I write about children’s books (find his substack here). Take the letter “C” for example. “C” is for “champions,” but listen to how he fleshes it out. “Texas is no stranger to trophies. The Longhorns have won four national championships and 33 conference championships throughout their storied history in the Southwest and Big 12 Conferences. As new members of the SEC, Texas will look to take even more hardware home to the trophy cabinet.”

I find myself adopting a sportscaster voice, and it’s technical enough, and filled with enough facts, that older kids and even adults will enjoy it. And still, three-year-old River listened to every page and then turned it over and wanted to read it again. River, Thanksgiving is cheering for football on TV, and cuddling up with Nana to read your favorite books again and again.

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My name is Meredith Davis, and I’m an award winning writer of middle grade books, a former indie bookseller, founder of the Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Find teaching resources and author visit information on my website at www.meredithldavis.com. Mother to three, Nana to one and counting TWO, I live with my husband and a crazy doodle in Austin, Texas.