Skip to main content

Picture Books About Gratitude

Today is Thanksgiving Day, a day that is used as a day to express our gratitude for what we have, the experiences we enjoy, and the people that we love. Gratitude helps to change our perspective on life and bring more joy! Each of these picture books below tell stories about gratitude and how to more fully appreciate the good around us. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thankful
Written by Elaine Vickers
Illustrated by Samantha Cotterill
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021.

Throughout the year, a little girl creates a thankful chain by writing what she is grateful for on slips of paper and linking them together. Her chain grows longer and longer as more ideas come to her about what to be grateful for. The illustrations in this picture book are very unique, using paper-folding, photography, and drawing to create beautiful scenes on each page.


Our Table
By Peter H. Reynolds
New York, NY : Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2021.

Our Table is all about a girl who misses gathering around the dinner table together as a family. Each family member seems to now be distracted by different technology, the television, phones, and video games. The less time they spend together, the smaller the table becomes until it vanishes. Once it is gone, the girl gets her family to work together to build a new table, so that they may once again gather around it without distractions. A perfect reminder of what matters most and being grateful for the time we have together.


Written by Cynthia Rylant
Illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier
New York : Beach Lane Books, 2021.

A frog and a rabbit give thanks as they go throughout their day, for all the little things. For family members, for bugs, for weather, and all the things that bring them joy. At the end of their day, they gather all of their friends together for a giant feast to show their gratitude. This cute rhyming picture book helps readers to be grateful for the little things that are often overlooked. 


Thanks for Nothing!
By Ryan T. Higgins
Los Angeles : Disney-Hyperion, 2021.

As Bruce attempts to make a traditional Thanksgiving feast, his mice friends are making the process a bit difficult. They thank Bruce for each of the ingredients as they eat them or play in them before he can cook anything. Once it is time for dinner, they realize that there is nothing left to eat! But they are still grateful for what they have.


Pearl and Squirrel Give Thanks
Written by Cassie Ehrenberg 
Illustrated by Ryan Ehrenberg
New York : Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2020.

Pearl and Squirrel are best friends that live in a box and explore the city during the day. One day they are taught about Thanksgiving and what it means to be grateful. They start to practice being grateful by expressing their thanks for their favorite things as they go throughout their day, even during the difficult parts of the day. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

Review: The Memory Spinner

The Memory Spinner Written by C.M. Cornwell New York : Delacorte Press, 2025. Fiction. 281 pages. Fantasy is a genre that I don't often read. When I finish a good fantasy book, I always ask myself why I don't read more of them! This book made me ask myself that exact question. Lavender is a young girl who is struggling after the death of her mother. Her father doesn't like talking about the family's loss, and Lavender feels very alone in knowing how to grieve and cope with her feelings. Making the grieving process even harder for Lavender is the fact that she is struggling to hold on to memories of her mother.  The family runs an apothecary shop where Lavender is an apprentice. She has dreamed of her apprenticeship for a long time, putting in a lot of work to show her father she is a valuable asset. Unfortunately, while working side by side with her father, Lavender starts to notice that memories of her mother aren't the only thing she is having a hard time recallin...

Review: Kareem Between

  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...