Books for Kiddos - November

Title: Happy Thanksgiving Curious George

Author: H. A. Ray

What I truly love about this book is that every page seems to be another fun, short story about thanksgiving. Even though they are all short stories, the author makes sure that each one is connected to the other. It essentially follows Curious George through his Thanksgiving, but with rhymes.

Perfect for young kids, I would say from toddler to elementary age. My four year old loved to watch all the activities Curious George was doing and couldn’t get enough of the juggling act near the end of the book. My one year old was also fascinated by the beautiful illustration.

We have been reading this book since my four year old was a baby and we will continue until she tells me to stop.

Title: Thanks for Nothing

Author: Ryan T. Higgins

You might debate whether or not this is a Thanksgiving book, but I will argue that it definitely can be considered in that category. Bruce the bear is working so hard to prepare a large meal for his friends, but keeps being thwarted by those gosh darn mice. How many parents have gone through that struggle trying to prepare the Thanksgiving meal with all your little ones causing some sort of trouble. Totally relatable!

Not only that but it teaches both kids and parents the importance of patience, especially on those big holiday get-togethers.

The whole page is filled up with pictures and most of the writing is short and simple. It is perfect for a toddler to elementary age (and parents with kids). My four year old thought the mice were hilarious and wanted to high five Bruce with his parent-level patience.

Will this be read every November before Thanksgiving - Yes, I do believe so.

Title: Pete the Cat - The First Thanksgiving

Author: James Dean and Kimberly Dean

Oh Pete the Cat, how my children love you so! Everytime we go to the library, we always come home with a Pete the Cat book. When I saw a Pete the Cat Thanksgiving book in the story I thought it would be great for the kids.

I appreciate that the authors set up an approachable way to teach little kids about Thanksgiving. The flaps in the book are also great because they add interactivity to the book which is essentially for my younger kiddos who can easily get bored of a book.

In all honesty, I would say that this book would be meant more for elementary age kiddos. I only say that because the text can be long in some parts and at times my kids' attention did waver.

Even so, I will still read this book with my kiddos every year.

Title: Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Author: Charles M. Schultz

Yup, I bought another book version of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special for my kids. Why? Because I have such fond memories of the story that I want to share it with my little ones.

It is definitely a fun story for those who don’t know. Poor Charlie Brown is given the lofty task of making a Thanksgiving meal for his friends. Did I mention that little Charlie Brown can’t cook? Yet somehow he pulls it off with the help of his faithful beagle, Snoopy. However all his hard work is met with varying degrees of enjoyment from his invited guests.

Not sure how many kiddos have to make a Thanksgiving dinner for their friends, but it is fun to see what might happen if children were in charge. I think it also could lead into a good discussion with your own kids…like…what sort of food do you think should be served at Thanksgiving? Or if you were in charge what would you make for Thanksgiving?

The illustrations are great and the print is large to help with first time readers. I would, however, suggest this book for elementary children. Like in many of the Charlie Brown books, there is quite a bit of text and sometimes the younger ones just don’t have the patience to hear the whole story. If you do want to read it to the little ones, think about instead of shortening the story or even have your kids come up with a story based on the pictures. See where their creativity might take you.

Either way, this is still on my Thanksgiving read list and will be for a while.

Title: ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Author: Dave Pilkey

Honestly when I first read this book, I was not sure what I was getting into. I thought it would be just about some kids hanging out with some turkeys. In a way it was, but it also included an impossible mission…SAVE THE TURKEYS. And they did just that!

The illustrations reminded me a bit of Van Gogh background with Charlie Brown looking children, which in my opinion is great. Bright colors, happy children, cute turkeys…it definitely draws in the little kiddos. It also really helps that the story was set to mimic ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Rhyming and rhythm always help keep any kid interested in the story. Though at the end it does really push the idea of a vegetarian/veganThanksgiving, my family still did eat turkey and still will even when we continue to read this book.

In my opinion this book is great for all age kiddos, from the little babes to those heading in middle school. It's a fun story about sneaking turkeys home to save them from the Thanksgiving table.

It will definitely be a story we read for many Thanksgivings to come.