Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, my pie dough is chilling in the fridge, the girls are watching a TV show, so I thought I'd pop in and blog about Thanksgiving books while they are still on my mind.

Since I am doing Little Saints Preschool with Charlotte this year, I have been reading more picture books than ever. Of course, since the curriculum was written in 1999, a lot of the suggested books are hard for me to find (it might not be such a big issue for people near larger libraries, but our small town library has very few of the suggestions in stock) and the Thanksgiving books suggested were no exception to that rule. So, after realizing that I didn't have ANY books about Thanksgiving (and Eva is 6...I feel like a bad mom about that) I went ahead and searched the internet and found recommendations from a variety of homeschool bloggers. I purchased 4 books and found two more that were recommended at the library. So, here are the books and my thoughts on them:

The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh - This is a very good book, perhaps a little old yet for my kids. Eva did well with it, but Charlotte rolled around and was a punk while I was reading the book. Lots of information in it, and I liked how it focused on a set of siblings of the baby born on the Mayflower. I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of the illustration style, but I am definitely glad that I purchased this one.

The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern - I loved the details in this book, I loved the focus on what the children had or did not have and the work the children did. I also liked the illustration style better than the first book. The text was probably a little better for my girl's ages and attention spans (6 and 4). Glad I bought this one.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy - Cute book, right about at Charlotte's level. Probably the best replacement for the books in the Little Saints Preschool curriculum because it is just the right level of read aloud for my 4 year old. Eva put up with it well, but I think she liked the other two books better. Not sure if I am glad I bought this one or not...I'll have to wait and see next year how the girls react. If I had another little one, I would say yes, but since as of now Charlotte is the youngest, I'm not sure how many Thanksgivings we will read this one.

Thanksgiving Is... by Gail Gibbons - Generally I like Gail Gibbons books, not so sure I am crazy about this one. It is also at a reading/attention level more appropriate to Charlotte's age, and it does have some interesting information in it, but I am not so sure that I am glad I bought it...I would prefer to own either of the two library books instead.

Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin - Very cute book. I like the storyline about the grandma and granddaughter inviting one person each Thanksgiving, I like when things turn out differently than the grandmother expects, and the cranberry bread recipe in the back of the book is very tasty (we left out the raisins and did all cranberries...I also didn't get my timer set right on my new oven, and tried to depan the bread too soon, so it doesn't look as pretty as it could!) Very cute, although not an informative book about Thanksgiving, it does involve a thanksgiving meal. I may have to check it out of the library again next year!

Thank You, Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson - This one is too funny! Eva loved the whole "Thanksgiving needed a superhero" thing, and the book is all about a woman who helped Thanksgiving become a national holiday. I never had heard anything about her before, but I learned a lot in the book, and it was a lot of fun to read. Definitely a fun one to learn about how Thanksgiving became the holiday it is today!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I should get back to making some food!