Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to showcase picture books that celebrate America's diverse population.
A primary feature of many of the children's Thanksgiving books on this list is that they demonstrate how immigrants have contributed to modern day traditions like Thanksgiving parades and the celebratory foods we eat. Most importantly, these multicultural picture books for kids demonstrate how Thanksgiving is not all about Pilgrims and football!
(Note: These titles were personally chosen by me because my family loves them. This post contains Amazon and Bookshop affiliate links that may earn commission. Bookshop also supports independent book stores.)
I am of the belief that we can share with our children the relevance of modern-day Thanksgiving traditions without perpetuating the highly flawed "happy myth" about its origins. Children are smart cookies and we honor them by making sure we discuss hard truths about the relationship between the "founding" of this country and the land's indigenous populations.
If you read only one Thanksgiving book this year, let it be this one. A grandmother tells her two Wampanoag ("People of the First Light") grandchildren the story of Thanksgiving. Weeâchumun (the Wampanoag word for "corn," here represented as a translucent woman) is worried because she is afraid that she will not last another year. Despite a caution to be wary of the new comers, Weeâchumun asks the Wampanoag people to help the Pilgrims survive the winter by helping them plant the three sisters of corn, beans and squash. This is an important retelling of the Thanksgiving story that places the Wampanoag, and not the Pilgrims at the center of the narrative. The text includes notes, glossary, and a pronunciation guide. The book's official website has further resources. Ages 3 and up.
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