A Cornucopia of Thanksgiving Books

Are you living a storybook year? Our book-a-day selections for this month come from Chris Scarlett, who graciously shared this list and her notes with me (and you!). A book a day and then some from now until Thanksgiving. Thanks so much, Chris!

For The Younger Set:
My First Thanksgiving (board book) by Tomie dePaola (super simple for toddlers)

Thanks For Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, illustrated by Doris Barrette (bright, bold colors and simple rhymes)

 Countdown to Thanksgiving by Jodi Huelin, illustrated by Keiko Motoyama (family-oriented)

Thanksgiving Is Here! by Diane Goode (big, busy family)

 1, 2, 3 Thanksgiving by W. Nikola-Lisa, illustrated by Robin Kramer (doubles as a counting book from 1-10 and 10-1)

 The First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story by Laura Krauss Melmed, illustrated by Mark Buehner (1-12, brief rhymes, nice pics)

Thanksgiving by Brenda Haugen, illustrated by Todd Ouren (sweet overview)

Thanksgiving Is... by Gail Gibbons (colorful, brief highlights)

The Very First Thankgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene, paintings by Susan Gaber (lovely illustrations)

Fancy Nancy, Our Thanksgiving Banquet based on Fancy Nancy written by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Glasser, Fletcher, and Drainville (we completely missed out on this commercial brand, but I think this one is charming for girly-girls and their moms)

Saying Grace, A Prayer of Thanksgiving by Virginia Kroll, illustrated by Timothy Ladwig (pioneer girl)

The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern, illustrated by Elroy Freem (basic, gets the job done)

Thanksgiving by Dana Meachen Rau (simple school-type overview)

This Is the Feast by Diane Shore, illustrated by Megan Lloyd (bold, attractive pictures, rhyming)

 Thanksgiving Treat by Catherine Stock (a grandpa story)

"Potluck" For School Aged Children:
 Let's Throw A Thanksgiving Party! by Rachel Lynette (nice photos, very doable recipes and crafts, will click with Family Fun magazine fans)

P is for Pilgrim a Thanksgiving alphabet, illustrated by Helle Urban (written at two age levels, with poetry and prose, fact-packed and gorgeous)

 Oh, What A Thanksgiving! by Steven Kroll, illustrated by S. D. Schindler (modern schoolboy imagining a parallel life as a Pilgrim kid, fun)

 N. C. Wyeth's Pilgrims, text by Robert San Souci (BOGO alert--art appreciation and educational)

 The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh (vintage Caldecott, lovely wording)

Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis (check out the Catholic connection here)

Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla, pictures by Peter Burchard (old school bio, sparsely illustrated)

 Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Greg Shed (one of the best Squanto books out there)

 If You Were There At The First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma, illustrated by Bert Dodson (classic series, Q&A format)

The First Thanksgiving Feast by Joan Anderson, photographed by George Ancona (beautiful B&W photos of re-enactors at Plimouth Plantation)

A World Of Holidays, Thanksgiving by Marilyn Miller (overview, colorful photos)

 The Pilgrims' Thanksgiving from A to Z by Laura Crawford, illustrated by Judith Hierstein (organized as an alphabet book, would be a good way to kick-off or wrap up a mini-unit study, pretty)

The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward, illustrated by James Watling (interesting early reader)

Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness (attractive and very well-researched)

Eating The Plates: A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners by Lucille Recht Penner (foodies might like this chapter book)

1620 Year of the Pilgrims by Genevieve Foster (a meaty chapter book)

 1621: A New Look At Thanksgiving by Catherine O'Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac, photos by Sisse Brimberg and Colton Coulson (detailed)

 Giving Thanks: The 1621 Harvest Feast by Kate Waters, photos by Russ Kendall (parallel stories of Pilgrim boy and Indian boy at Plimoth Plantation)

Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner (Can you say perseverance? charmingly told, girl power--in a good way)

 Sarah Gives Thanks by Mike Allegra, illustrated by David Gardner (more straightforward than the previous title about Sarah Josepha Hale, a good complement to it)

 A Thanksgiving Wish by Michael Rosen, paintings by John Thompson (missing departed grandma, a wishbone story, not a downer)

 Fat Chance Thanksgiving by Pat Lakin, illustrated by Stacey Schuett (kids' initiative brings neighbors together)

 Thanksgiving On Plymouth Plantation by Diane Stanley, illustrated by Holly Berry (bland title for an imaginary time-travel tale with grandma as teacher using comic speech bubbles, very kid-friendly) 

 The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell (an elderly couple is included in a family meal at an ethnic restaurant)

 The Firefighters' Thanksgiving by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Terry Widener (whole lot of action here for one day)

Turkey Bowl by Phil Bilder, illustrated by C. F. Payne (let's hear it for the boys in this family football story)

 The Memory Cupboard: A Thanksgiving Story by Charlotte Herman, paintings by Ben F. Stahl (people and memories are more important than things, don't miss this one)

The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall (quaintly written in first person, present tense)

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Thomas Locker (well told, Dutch Masters-style paintings)

Thanksgiving Day, A Time To Be Thankful by Elaine Landau (overview that would be nice for a schoolish report)

 The Thanksgiving Bowl by Virginia Kroll, illustrated by Philomena O'Neill (cute, far-fetched, convoluted tale)

Thanksgiving Day Alphabet by Beverly Barras Vidrine, illustrated by Alison Davis Lyne (use this one to summarize and review the whole unit of study)

One For The Oldest Students:
Thanksgiving, The True Story by Penny Colman (nice reference for fact-checking teens or parents)
Junior high and high schoolers may enjoy reading some from the previous level aloud to siblings (or children they babysit). 

A REWARD IF YOU ARE STILL WITH ME HERE:
 The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by JoAnn Adinolfi (Hilarious. Highly recommended. Shhh. We will be reading this one to all the big Scarlett kids on Turkey Day this year. Thankfully, most of our families fall somewhere on the continuum between the extremes of the Martha Stewart-ish and the "redneck" clans depicted here.)

For more about our Storybook Year, please visit  here. 

(And many thanks to Nicky for all the linking. He's a coding machine:-)

It's All So Much Better Outside

The place where we've been learning out of doors since the late 1980s: Hidden Pond Nature Center

The super awesome excellent book that makes nature study so easy to bring to life all year 'round: The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms

Needle & thREAD

Today I'm posting needle & thREAD because, remarkably enough this week, I've actually sewn a little. Sewing tends to frustrate me and it takes too much patience for me to stick with it. But, my mom wants me to make this tiered skirt and I'm pretty sure she is intent on me finishing it. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get a chunk of time and finish it. As of now though, I leave you with a picture of a work in progress.

 

Now for the reading part. Recently, I read Joy in the Ordinary. I'm going to admit I was skeptical. It was about a girl who wanted to become a nun, really? I didn't want to read about some girl that wanted to become a nun. I will say though, this book is well worth anyone's time. Joyce wants to become a nun, badly--almost to the point where she's forcing herself. When she comes to the realization that she won't be able to stay at the convent because it's truly not her vocation, her life gets turned around in remarkable ways and she finds out who she's really meant to be. This book left me very happy,but also a little bit sad that we can't all find our own Dominics. I'm pretty sure they don't exist. That issue aside though, I can't wait for a sequel to this book.

While I was sewing a tiered skirt and reading Joy in the Ordinary, Katie and Mom were busy making a picnic blouse and reading Caddie Woodlawn. 

 

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Does autumn call you into your sewing space? Are you thinking flannel pjs or cozy quilts? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and thREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and thREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-)

Where the Grapes Grow Sweet

In this post, I mentioned that we brought a book back from California. The Grapes Grow Sweet is the story of a family bringing in California grapes at harvest time. Beautifully illustrated with rich, watercolor pictures, the book tells the story of Julian and Adrienne Rossi, two children growing up in the fourth generation on a Napa vineyard. The story is tenderly told and every time I read it aloud to my children, I'm drawn into the warmth of this family and the love and respect they have for the people who work with them. As I mentioned in this post, I'm particularly fascinated by organic and biodynamic farming. In this book, the ecology of the vineyard comes alive, showing the insects and other creatures among the grapevines. The pictures are incredibly detailed and with each reading so far, we've noticed something new. There are some extension resources for the book here that have delighted us in the past week.

My girls were so inspired by this book that we took off last week for an impromptu visit to some Virginia vineyards, hoping to see the harvest gondolas. We headed to Loudoun County vineyards first. I found that people in the two places we stopped weren't terribly responsive to the presence of children, despite their website assurances that they were family friendly.

The next week, we went apple picking in Front Royal and then, popped around the corner to Rappahanock Cellars, a vineyard recommended by Janine in the comments of that post. Rappahanock Cellars is a family-owned vineyard and winery run by the the Delmare family. Since there are twelve kids in that family, they didn't bat an eye when I arrived with six.

We had a wonderful time. We picnicked and ran around and breathed in mountain air scented with grapevine. We had an abbreviated tour (it's harvest season), but then we got to stand at the big picture windows and watch huge mounds of grapes be transported to the hopper for pressing. 

The book absolutely came to life! We plan to go back in October because I have hunch it's a particularly wonderful place when the leaves change color. (And because we joined the wine club and opted to pick up our selections;-).

For more about our Storybook Year, please visit  here. 

That Sweet Sunday Sweater: Pictures & Knitting Notes

 

Hi, there! What you see above is my progress on the Sunday Sweater. I wanted to test knit the sweater for Ginny, but I wasn't quite at the ready. The yarn you see? I purchased it 18 months ago for a sweater for Sarah. But 18 months ago? Sarah was 18 months smaller. I'm awaiting more of that really wonderful yarn and I'm praying the dye lots won't be too terribly off. When one is limited to plant fibers for knitting, yarn acquisition can take awhile. (Oh, and I'm reading Christopher's Harvest Time every chance I get. I love, love, love this book, this time of year.)

What Ginny really wanted, less than a week ago, was someone to test knit the smallest size. And I knew just the person. I made an introduction between two of my favorite, most creative people and in return I had all the fun of watching Ginny's pattern come alive in my dear friend's hands.

Since there aren't too many completed Sunday Sweaters in the world just yet, my friend--who doesn't blog--has graciously agreed to let me show you her Sunday Sweater. 

~ ~ ~

Knitting notes from this finished sweater:

~Yarn: Wooly Wonka Aerten DK, a merino, cashmere, and nylon blend. The color is Dark Roast.

~ The pattern leaves no guess work. Each step is fully explained; even when telling you to look at right or left side of the garment, Ginny tells you whether you're looking at "my left or your left."

~The stitch count is given throughout. You won't knit rows and rows and then suddenly realize you're off count. She calculates the count after every increase row.

-~There is very little finishing work since it's knitted top down and seamless.

~ It's so easy to size! Ginny gives industry standards for arm length and tells you how to get just the right fit.

~Beautifully laid out and easy to read:-).  (I honestly thought no one could write a pattern more clearly than Georgie Hallam...Ginny's is right up there with her.)

- My friend will be knitting another.

...and I can't wait to start my first!

Join Ginny for more knitting and reading yarns here.