As the name of my blog indicates, I spend a lot of time thinking about home. Of course, my Heavenly Home is the one that is eternal, so that’s where I need to lay up my treasures, and that’s the one I’m striving for. But in the meantime, I have been given this tiny piece of the here-and-now—this home on the edge of town, this family, this neighborhood—in which to serve Him. And, though this is in the earthly realm, I want the things that happen here to be investments in the Heavenly realm.




Saturday, November 13, 2010

Living Books for Thanksgiving


Our family loves to learn via living books, so I often gather books from our own personal library, supplemented by our public library findings, to go along with a holiday, a season, or a time period or topic that we're studying. Then I'll load the chosen books into a basket, or place them on a low shelf or some other conspicuous place for easy perusal.





Here are some favorites from our Thanksgiving stack...

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, by Louisa May Alcott, is the amusing story of a family's Thanksgiving celebration that gets a bit complicated when the parents must leave at the height of the preparations in order to attend a sick grandmother. Pure old-fashioned charm.



The Thanksgiving Story (Alice Dalgliesh), is the story of the first Thanksgiving as seen through the eyes of Giles, Constance, and Damaris Hopkins, children who came over on the Mayflower. This book is simply told, simply illustrated (by Helen Sewell), and is a perfect introduction to the history of Thanksgiving.


Three Young Pilgrims
, by Cheryl Harness, also tells the story of the Pilgrims from the perspective of a Pilgrim family, the Allertons. Typical of Harness's children's books, this one is colorfully illustrated and full of interesting maps, diagrams, timelines, sketches, and factual tidbits in addition to the main text.


In Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember, Barbara Rainey narrates the history of Thanksgiving on two levels. If you're reading to younger children with limited attention spans, you can read only the passages in larger print; if your listeners are older, add the sections in smaller type. Either way, you will read the story from a distinctively Christian perspective. (As I shared with you last November, my own favorite part of this book is the accompanying CD of Thanksgiving hymns!)



Margaret Pumphrey's Pilgrim Stories, edited by Elvajean Hall, is my all-time favorite Thanksgiving book! Read through these seventeen easy chapters, and you will learn parts of the Pilgrims' story that you've never heard before! The inspiring narrative begins in 1606 in Scrooby, England at the home of Separatist elder William Brewster, and continues through the first year of the Plymouth colony. We have read Pilgrim Stories aloud many times, but I am always, always inspired by the difficult choices, the personal sacrifice these men and women made to be able to worship God in Spirit and in Truth.


Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving book?
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This post is linked to Children's Book Monday at A Path Made Straight which is a fabulous place to find delightful children's book recommendations. On more than one occasion, I have searched for one of Elise's featured books at my local library...only to find that it has already been checked out or put on hold! When that happens, it's usually because Kristin has beaten me to it!

5 comments:

  1. We really like the book you gave the kids last year: Over the River and Through the Wood. In fact, I'm working on a review for it now. :-)

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  2. I tried to get a copy of 'An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving' from the Library...but it doesn't look like it will arrive in time!

    I think it's so neat how you and Kristin share so many things...even a love for good children's literature!

    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Kathi

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  3. Margaret Pumphrey's Pilgrim Stories! We read that aloud every year for many years!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  4. Several I had never heard of - hooray!!!

    Thank you, kind friend, for this beautiful array of Thanksgiving books- such a gift to all of us! I couldn't find the Margaret Pumphrey book at our library, so I put it on our Amazon wishlist, since I trust your recommendation fully! :)

    I'm hoping our copy of Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving will come in the next couple of days- I know all of us would enjoy it!

    Blessings on your wonderful family this Thanksgiving!

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  5. THANK YOU! I just went hog-wild on Amazon. Can't wait

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