There’s nothing like a great Thanksgiving children’s book to help celebrate this special holiday! From chasing turkeys to giving thanks, these books will help your family commemorate this meaningful day.
Thanksgiving books for kids celebrate this special holiday
Gobbles and giggles and gratitude, oh my!
It’s Thanksgiving again, and we love this time of year. The leaves are changing, there’s a chill in the air, and families nationwide come together to celebrate all they have to be thankful for. It is a time for togetherness and tradition, food and fun, no matter how you celebrate or what you eat.
Gratitude abounds in Thanksgiving children’s books
Of course, our favorite part of Thanksgiving is the fact that this special holiday encourages kids nationwide to think about gratitude and all they have to be thankful for.
Not only do these stories remind us to pause and appreciate the many things we have in our lives, but they also remind us to give back and help others. These Thanksgiving stories highlight the importance of maintaining an attitude of gratitude not just during Thanksgiving, but all year round.
No matter how you are celebrating Thanksgiving this year, get ready to eat delicious dishes, bask in the love of family and friends, and add these Thanksgiving books for kids to your celebration!
RELATED: We’ve got more than 100 children’s book lists on Happily Ever Elephants. Be sure to check out this link!
Frequently asked questions
Turkey Trouble, by Wendi Silvano, is always a hit! This book make kids laugh, plain and simple, and kids love the turkey’s antics as he attempts to disguise himself so as not to be the featured dish at Thanksgiving dinner. It’s so much fun!
Eileen Vickers’ and Samanthal Cotterill’s Thankful is simply stunning both in word and illustration. It’s one of my very favorite books about gratitude! Through beautifully collaged illustrations, we watch as one little girl makes a paper chain to highlight everything she is grateful for in a year. It’s a special story, and it lends itself to so many activities you can do at home or in a classroom, too.
One way to discuss this with children is to have a conversation about the indigenous people living in America before the Europeans arrived. Our family likes to honor Indigenous peoples during Thanksgiving by sharing Native American picture books. This is a wonderful and important way to highlight Native American contributions, culture, and traditions.
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We love these Thanksgiving children’s books!
I adore this beautiful, gentle story that is a lovely celebration of Thanksgiving, family, and friends. Based on a true story, the book shares an annual tradition of family and friends gathering in the woods to celebrate the holiday. They laugh and connect over bonfires and activities, and the essence of the holiday – giving, gratitude, and great food – is captured perfectly within the lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations!
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This is the table that Grandad built. / These are the sunflowers picked by my cousins / set on the table that Grandad built. This gentle cumulative story is a take on the classic “This is the House that Jack Built,” with a diverse family – and a diverse array of dishes! – gathering together to share a meal. It’s a perfect Thanksgiving children’s book to share as you celebrate family togetherness, gratitude, and tradition!
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If you want a laugh-out-loud Thanksgiving book, this story by the great Dav Pilkey fits the bill! The day before Thanksgiving, a group of children head to the turkey farm to meet Farmer Mack Nugget. When the kids realize the turkeys they see may become Thanksgiving dinner, a rescue mission begins! Turkeys are smuggled into homes, no birds get eaten, and hearts are full. But those kids may have been a bit uncomfortable fleeing the farm with turkeys under their shirts! Gobbles and giggles abound in this darling story, which is hands down one of our favorite Thanksgiving children’s books!
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We love this beautiful collaged book that celebrates all the wonderful things in the world for which we are thankful. The little girl follows through with her family tradition, making a paper chain to highlight everything she is grateful for in a year. As one idea leads to another, her chain grows longer and longer. From homes to poems, this tender story reminds children that wonder is all around us, and there is much to be thankful for daily.
RELATED: If you’re looking for phenomenal kindergarten read-alouds be sure to check out this list!
Turkey is in trouble. It’s almost Thanksgiving, and he knows he’s set to be the main course. Whatever will he do? He tries various disguises to hide from Farmer Jake but nothing seems to work. Will he find a way to keep himself off the Thanksgiving dinner table? This is one of the funniest Thanksgiving children’s books, and it never fails to make the youngest readers laugh!
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Percy knows precisely how to have a great Thanksgiving, and you will too if you follow his simple rules! From being early to the dinner table to eating lots of sweets, you’ll get the most out of your Thanksgiving meal when you abide by Percy’s decree to eat everything you see! But is this the true meaning of Thanksgiving, or is there something Percy’s missing?
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Tuyet can’t wait for Thanksgiving! But she has a problem. Her Vietnamese American family doesn’t eat turkey for Thanksgiving, they eat duck. What will her classmates think of her when they learn she doesn’t eat turkey for Thanksgiving like everyone else? When Tuyet arrives back at school after the holiday, she is in for a surprise when she discovers that her diverse classmates eat all kinds of foods at their holiday meals, each of which was a perfect, unique dish for their families!
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In this sweet story, children recount everything they are thankful for, from family to teachers to pets. We love how this board book celebrates gratitude and helps preschoolers understand the notion of giving thanks and appreciating the things around us – both the big and the small!
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In this classic Thanksgiving book, Grandma encourages her granddaughter to invite a guest – someone lonely or in need – to Thanksgiving dinner, and she does the same. After all, there are always people who want to share a tasty meal and eat grandma’s delicious cranberry bread. Everyone wants to discover Grandma’s secret cranberry bread recipe, too! But when Maggie invites an unusual character to Thanksgiving dinner, grandma is less than thrilled – will her secret recipe be safe with this odd man in the house? This is one of the best Thanksgiving children’s books to show that looks are not always what they seem, and we should try our best to refrain from judging others!
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A stunning debut! Everyone in the neighborhood follows the delicious scent of stew to Omu’s doorstep, where Omu (meaning “queen” in the Igbo language of the author’s parents) dishes her meal out with love. But when it comes time for Omu to sit down for dinner, she realizes she left no stew for herself! This is a gorgeous, timeless story of generosity and community, beautifully conveying that one good deed deserves another — and sharing is everything. This is, hands down, one of my very favorite kids’ books about gratitude and giving to others!
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“The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time. The more we say thanks, the more we find to be thankful for. And the more we find to be thankful for, the happier we become.” Need I say more? This is such a beautiful and lyrical children’s book about gratitude!
Nonfiction Thanksgiving Children’s Books
Did you ever wonder how Thanksgiving become a national holiday? People celebrate giving thanks worldwide, but it wasn’t until the 1880s that the United States recognized Thanksgiving as a national American holiday, thanks to a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale. This beautifully illustrated book conveys the importance of giving thanks and how a nation came together to celebrate gratitude.
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What a fabulous book on gratitude, set in a vibrant Cherokee community. This Native American picture book travels through the seasons, giving readers a glimpse of the Native American community at rest and play. The word “ostaliheliga” is used by the members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude and is sprinkled throughout the pages. We simply LOVE this one!
What do you know about the first feast at Plimoth between the English colonists and the Wampanoag people? What was the real story of this meal? Written by a citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and curated to explore both sides of this historic occasion, this is an important book to teach children the real history of the Thanksgiving holiday.This book gives greater context to indigenous peoples and how they received the English and lived before colonization, rather than the other way around.
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What is your favorite Thanksgiving children’s book? Let us know in the comments below!
Happy reading!
RELATED: We’ve got the best holiday books for you on Happily Ever Elephants, so be sure to check out these great picture books for kindergarten on up!
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