Want to talk about the Thanksgiving story for kids to understand? Read the best Thanksgiving books for kids, toddlers, and adults are right here.
What a wonderful time of year!
You’re busy making yummy foods and cozying up and making your home hygge for the holidays. You are enjoying family time and getting ready for the busy upcoming Christmas season.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like Thanksgiving has forgotten in recent years. People are decorating for Christmas in October and barely even register Thanskgiving.
But it’s an important holiday and a great one to discuss about the meanings and origins with the kids.
Pull out these fun connecting questions to share some laughs with your precious ones!
Use them at:
- meal times
- car rides
- as a “calm down” trick
- for dinner time conversation
- or any time the day is getting chaotic or
- you need a reset to connect.
What's in this post...
The Best Thanksgiving Books For Kids AND Fun Ones For Adults
One of our favorite ways to discuss a topic back and forth and all around, is to read about it.
You can read about history, build literacy, and have awesome family time together. It can even be a yearly tradition.
We keep holiday books boxed up with seasonal decor. When I bring out fall decorations, for example, we’ll also bring out all the fall books. Same for all of our Christmas books.
Read: 5 Reasons Bedtime Stories Benefit Kids and Life Skills That Thanksgiving Teaches Kids
Board books for babies about Thanksgiving
Want to get some seasonal books for our baby they can chew on? I mean, read? It’s so fun to read stories to little ones and if they can feel something, turn the pages, or just look at the bright images it sets the stage for later.
The more you read earlier to babies, the more you increase their reading stamina and they’ll be able to sit for quite a while as they get older.
Also, board books are so affordable you can get a few each season to add to your Thanksgiving collection for your kids.
Pull out these fun connecting questions to share some laughs with your precious ones!
Use them at:
- meal times
- car rides
- as a “calm down” trick
- for dinner time conversation
- or any time the day is getting chaotic or
- you need a reset to connect.
- A Very Thankful Prayer | A sweet book with animals talking about all we have to be thankful for.
- My First Thanksgiving | This book is by a famous children’s author, Tomie dePaola, and focuses on the Thanksgiving story and friendship.
- Happy Thanksgiving, Curious George | We LOVE CG over here and have quite a few of his books.
- Corduroy’s Thanksgiving | Remember the favorite Curduroy book where the girl brought him home with a broken button? This is related, so sweet.
- Biscuit Is Thankful | About a sweet puppy, great if you have a family dog or are getting a puppy for Christmas.
- Happy Thanksgiving | This includes photographs to introduce little ones to new terms this holiday.
- Llama Llama Gives Thanks | We are llama fans over here, are y’all?
- Where Is Baby’s Turkey? | This is a flap book. Good for older babies (6 months and older likely) who want to use their fingers to read.
- 5 Silly Turkeys | This board book is colorful and lovely. A great one for your collection.
Gratitude is a learned skill. Help avoid selfishness and entitlement by nurturing gratitude.
Learn More
Thanksgiving books for toddlers and preschoolers
This is my favorite age to read books to kids.
They find everything fascinating and they are able to sit for longer period of time to read. You can read a bit more advanced books, but they are still short enough you can read a few at a time.
The books written for toddlers and preschoolers are thoughtful, clever, and fun to read together as a family. Add these, for sure, to your list of Thanksgiving books for toddlers.
- A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving | A classic American cartoon’s take on Thanksgiving.
- Balloons Over Broadway | A story about the origins of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. It’d be fun to read this then watch the parade together.
- How To Catch A Turkey | This is very highly rated, good for preschoolers.
- Thanksgiving Is For Giving Thanks | This goes into all the things we are thankful for. A great gratitude practice.
- 10 Fat Turkeys | A quirky fun read for the little ones who like to laugh.
- Bear Says Thanks | A great story about family and friendship and everyone coming together to celebrate Thanksgiving.
- Pete The Cat: The First Thanksgiving | We have quite a few of these Pete books and the kids really get into them.
- T Is For Turkey | An alphabet focused vocabulary book.
Tis the season… countdown to Christmas with these lovely advent cards🎄.
Learn MoreThe story of Thanksgiving for kids (with video!)
Do you want to help tell your kids the story of Thanksgiving? Books will help, but so does a video.
Reading some books together and then watching a short video to dive more deeply into the topic.
Thanksgiving books for adults
If you’re like me, novels are a great way to wind down and relax after the stresses of life. I love reading seasonal novels. Beach reads during the summer.
Snow filled cabin books at Christmas, and so on. If you love reading stories that go with the time of year you’re in, these Thanksgiving books will help you get into the spirit to celebrate this time of gratitude.
Gratitude is a learned skill. Help avoid selfishness and entitlement by nurturing gratitude.
Learn More- Thanksgiving | This novel is by Janet Evanovich and her books are usually fast reads.
- Once Upon A Thanksgiving | This is part of a PTA mom series and if that ain’t enough reason to read it, I’m not sure what is. Ha!
- Her Holiday Fireman | Well, this is kind of like a Hallmark movie but in book form. Predictable but with good scenery!
- A Deadly Feast: A Key West Food Critic Mystery | While Florida isn’t exactly the setting you think of for the holidays, it’s a nice break from the typical snowy cabin.
- The Ghost At The Table | Sisters estranged meet up in a farmhouse and dredge up secrets from the past.
- Turkey Day Murder | This is part of the Lucy Stone mysteries so if you like series, you may want to grab the whole package.
- Bitter Harvest | Selling apples, if that isn’t fall like in a beautiful snowy setting, I don’t know what is.
Pull out these fun connecting questions to share some laughs with your precious ones!
Use them at:
- meal times
- car rides
- as a “calm down” trick
- for dinner time conversation
- or any time the day is getting chaotic or
- you need a reset to connect.
Other book related posts:
Tis the season… countdown to Christmas with these lovely advent cards🎄.
Learn MoreFAQs
Choose books that include activities like crafts, recipes, or discussion questions. Use the stories you read to fuel your conversations with your kids in order to interact with the story on a deeper level and talk with them about why the history, traditions, and values surrounding Thanksgiving matter. In short: talk about what you read about!
Routines are great here because there is a designated time to read and you don’t have to worry about when to fit it in. Brainstorm some times that you want your kids to settle down, when their attention span is best, and when you want to connect with them and start inserting story time there. For example, this could mean when they wake up in the morning, before bed, or around the table during meals.
I love reading stories with my kids and then incorporating activities that go with the story. For example, this could mean reading Balloons Over Broadway and then having the kids make their own “floats” for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade out of craft materials. Or simply watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade together as a family. Have fun, get creative, and when in doubt, search Pinterest!
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