To be honest for most of my life I've been ambivalent about Thanksgiving. Blame it on my elementary school days. It was taught as being all about the Pilgrims and the Indigenous Peoples who we then called Indians. Every year without fail we'd make these black hats and feathered headdresses out of paper grocery bags and have these cringe worthy plays celebrating the friendship between the Pilgrims and the Indians. I couldn't believe the narrative. I entered school with insider information on rewards for scalps and smallpox impregnated blankets. Somehow genocide didn't enter into my definition of friendship.
Denise Kiernan's Giving Thanks provides a back story I'm much more able to get behind. It's the story about Sarah Josepha Hale and the persistence with which she sought to convert a series of regional festivities into a national holiday. That was way before the internet. She couldn't post her ideas and see them go viral. But she could write letters to presidents and be very persistent.
I really like Kiernan's emphasis on giving thanks. One Thanksgiving especially stands out in my mind in this regard. My brother-in-law had come back alive and well from yet another tour of duty. The year before he'd been a voice on speaker phone.
I still have one pet peeve. Do we really need to have Thanksgiving back to back with Black Friday. Can't we separate gratitude and frenzied consumerism by a week so retail workers can have the same chance to celebrate as the rest of us? Sarah would be with me on this.
Giving thanks and performing acts of kindness go hand in hand. Two very special books celebrate kindnesses young readers and listeners can perform.
Irene Latham's 12 Days of Kindness is the sweetest adaptation I've seen of the 12 Days of Christmas. We follow an every child narrator as she bestows acts of kindness on family and friends: hugging mom before heading off to school, sharing snacks with classmates, bestowing words of encouragement, listening to a sibling... Junghwa Parks' illustrations beautifully minimize backgrounds to focus on the acts and the emotions they elicit.
BTW, adults, you're not off the hook on this. We are actually inhibited about performing the many acts of kindness that cost little or nothing by rushed schedules, fears of what people think, or simple lack of awareness. Recently at work I told an undergrad she was looking beautiful in blue. She told me it made her day. That same day when I was caught up on tables and asked a supervisor if she'd like me to empty the recycling bin into it's dumpster she said, of, would you please? Really listening to someone is practically a lost art, especially with those devices constantly chiming and pinging for our attention. What are the things you can do for those around you?
K Is for Kindness, a collaboration between sisters Rina and Risa Horiuchi, is an alphabet book that teaches kids a lot more than their ABCs. A variety of animals large and small perform acts of kindness. Cow puts a coat on a cold Cat. Donkey lets Dog hold her dolly. Many of the acts are ones Abecedarians can perform. And wouldn't creating their own alphabet kindness books be a great project for older kids?
I think very few of us can envision Thanksgiving without thinking of food. Whether turkey and cranberry sauce or something less Sarah Josepha Hale traditional, we tend to have favorites to look forward to. So what would a round up of seasonal books be without a couple centered around food?
Miguel Ordonez's board book, Eat Together, combines a cute story line with the pre pre geometry concept of breaking items down into component shapes. A group of ants is working diligently at bringing human foods home to feast on. When they get home to their ant hill they realize--Uh-oh!--that their finds are not going to fit. What can they do?
I've been a big fan of Adam Mansbach since I discovered his Go the **** to Sleep at a Clean Sweep yard sale. Now he's teamed up with Camila Alves McConaughey and illustrator Mike Boldt to bring kids and parents Just Try One Little Bite. I was glad Eugene had left for work when I opened that book because I couldn't stop laughing.
Three kids have a problem. Their parents are real slackers when it comes to nutrition, eating ice cream sundaes for breakfast and choosing chips over broccoli. How do they get Mom and Dad to eat the veggies they need as part of a balanced diet? They try diligently as the rents try every avoidance trick in the book as in slipping broccoli to the dog.
Just Try One Little Bite is one of those read aloud adults and children will enjoy again and again and again...
Well I started this round up when I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I'm thinking maybe if I take the next bus I can get to UMaine before the anticipated rain arrives. But, as far as Thanksgiving children's books, I'm sure I've given you plenty of food for thought.
On a purrrsonal note, it's been a good school week. School and work are fine. I made more progress and identified helpers in my transforming the Upward Bound clothing room project. I did some good networking in regard to creating a nursing students and allies campus group. And after I finish my dining shift I'll be more than ready to start my weekend. (Jules)
Ready to spend more time with their best little cat in the world. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to you, beloved readers, with best wishes for a wonderful weekend.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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