18 November 2010

seasonal storybooks


thanks for thanksgiving by julie markes / illustrated by doris barrette.

i couldn't keep this charming find to myself (i had to share a few pages)! i love the warm illustrations, the rhyming words of gratitude and the sweet glimpse into a household busy with family togetherness (note the jump rope swung around the rungs of the banister in photo four).

i found this fall favorite while browsing the bookshelves for gently used books. (this was 75% off its price and doesn't look one bit tattered. yay.) i was originally browsing with hopes to find a few more christmas books to complete our december storybook advent. my blogger friend, melissa deakin introduced me to the idea of wrapping books to open each night before christmas. i think benji will be delighted to unwrap a story each night! i will be using my advent number tags to keep them all in order (saving the night before christmas for christmas eve). i also love that this special book collection can keep on giving, year after year. just pack them up with your ornaments and hollyberries! if you have a favorite festive storybook, please do let me know the title and author. i'd love to add it to my wish list.

p.s. another terrific picture book is titled the night before thanksgiving by natasha wing. the pages also rhyme with clever illustrations featuring the chaos and excitement of thanksgiving day!

16 comments:

Shelley said...

What a fantastic idea! I think we may be doing the same in our house. Thanks for the inspiration.

Cassie said...

As a result of my years teaching I could give you a huge list of Christmas favourites, in fact I never seemed to have enough time to fit them all in at school. A couple of my definite best ones though are probably 'Mog's Christmas' by Judith Kerr and 'Careful Santa!' by Julie Sykes and Tim Warnes.

I really adore this idea and like you say it can last for an entire childhood.
xx

Hannah said...

My sister, a school teacher, does a book advent as well. It is such a great idea!

That book looks great! I am going to check it out for my kiddos.

Vanessa Rae said...

This is such a great idea Marta! Now if only I could convince my husband to do this for me off my Amazon wishlist:)

chris said...

We have a copy of that book for our family, a gift from my mother a few years ago. Love it.

Kari said...

Ooo . . . I have a favorite Thanksgiving book.
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving. Love it. Grabbed it at DI for 50 cents and was delighted to find a funny, clever and well illustrated book for my boys. They like the pictures, and the funny quirks of the story, but it also alludes to bigger issues in the history of our country--things that my six-year-old wants to talk more about now that he sees more going on. The best.

http://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Sarah-Woman-Thanksgiving/dp/068985143X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290096759&sr=1-1

And thanks be to you, Miss Marta . . . I'm gathering my collection of Christmas Advent stories as well--they just had a big sale on them in my son's book order (I still love those) and I snagged a bunch, after Amazon reviews told me which ones were winners.

Ahh . . . the internet. Bringing us all closer together.

KJ said...

we do a christmas story advent, also, though I skip the wrapping part. I keep them in a big festive basket. Some that we like: the Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco, Nine Days to Christmas (out of print, but available used), Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl Buck.

Travelin'Oma said...

For Thanksgiving check out "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie" by Alison Jackson. The pictures are darling!

Hannah said...

I forgot to mention that "Turkey Trouble" by Wendi Silvano is our family Thanksgiving Favorite. It is darling; all about a Turkey trying to disguise himself so he doesn't become dinner.

My kids and I printed off a turkey coloring page after reading it and disguised them. (E's was a fairy princess and C's was buzz lightyear.) They loved the activity after reading the book.

Nicole said...

what a cute book! Our library has it but of course it's checked out until December...

We are doing a book advent calendar too and I need 5 more books. I'll be watching the comments for book ideas. :)

marta said...

a few favorites we have for our christmas collection are listed below (many of them board books):

Who Is Coming To Our House?
The First Snowfall
The Last Snow of Winter
The Snow Family (a pop-up book)
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Here Comes Santa Claus
Frosty's New Friends
The Christmas Story

[eeny] said...

That's a great idea. Have to keep that in mind.

I loved to read "Felix's Christmas around the world" by Annette Langen to my little cousin. And I think it even comes with a little Santa's hat.

If you don't know the Felix books - you should check those out. They are so adorable. Felix always travels around and sends back letters to his friend Sophie and those letters are in actual envelopes in the books. So cute.
I hope they are available in the US.

Johanna said...

I just love the idea of a book advent- I think we may do that or at least start (Noah is still a bit young for some of my longer Christmas books)...but I should pick up a few board books for him.
Here is a post I did last year on my all time favourite children's Christmas books.

http://johanna-birdsonawire.blogspot.com/2009/12/all-time-favourite-christmas-books.html

brooke said...

I love the idea of the Christmas books in advent calendar form. My favorite Christmas book will always be the Polar Express.

Whitney said...

Thank you for posting this. I especially love the pictures! I'm always looking for good holiday books and ones for Thanksgiving are especially hard to find. I appreciate it!

Relyn Lawson said...

I adore this book. Aren't the illustrations just the greatest? Plus, I love the advent book idea. I hope I remember it next year so I can do it for my daughter.

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