Thanksgiving is fraught, y’all. It is absolutely worth it to get into why Thanksgiving is not such a great tradition with kids- even at the library! Kids are smart and they are not harmed when adults tell them the truth. The truth of our country’s history can be scaled up or scaled down, depending on age and background knowledge.
For the pre-school crowd, I take a different tactic. I just… don’t.
Turkeys? No.
Pilgrims? Nope.
Mayflower? Native Americans? Hard pass, my guys.
A general feeling of thankfulness? That’s the one.
Thankfulness is a great thing to celebrate year round. Being thankful you have a warm place to sleep, being thankful you have people who love you, being thankful you have enough to eat- it is never too soon to start practicing gratitude. When we talk about the things we’re lucky to have, we’re actually talking about our privileges. Thanksgiving is a great time to talk about how lucky you may be to have certain blessings in your life and how difficult life can be to not have those same blessings.
It is also a great time to talk about- and model- how we share our gifts with others- not just through deed, but through words, too! If you were born with privileges, you were also born with a voice. Using it to stand up for others and speak out for what’s right is an age-appropriate lesson for pre-schoolers.
So how do you start a conversation like that? How do we move away from hand turkeys and move towards social justice at Thanksgiving?
With storytime.
My Heart Fills With Happiness by Monique Gray Smith: Written by an author of Cree and Lakota descent, My Heart Fills With Happiness is a sweet board book (perfect for baby storytime) that lists things that fill a young girl with joy.
Thank You, Earth by April Pulley Sayre: One of my all-time favorite storytime authors, Thank You, Earth is full of gorgeous photographs for different landscapes, bugs, and animals for which we should all be grateful.
May We Have Enough to Share by Richard Van Camp: It’s not just about what we have, but what we can share with others! This board book features photographs taken by and of indigenous women and their families. Babies love photos of real faces and I love diversity in storytime, so I will be sharing this one in storytime in a few weeks.
A Different Pond by Bao Phi: A quiet, beautiful story about a boy and a father fishing for food. As they fish, Bao’s father tells him about fishing in his home country of Vietnam. A story about family and shared culture.
One Family by George Shannon: My absolute favorite family book! The illustrations are sweet and fun and it features a wonderful assortment of different kinds of families, from single parent households to grandparents raising grandkids to living with aunts, uncles, and cousins. As a bonus, it’s a counting book too!
Hooray for Hat by Brian Won: A modern storytime classic, right? It’s also a great book to illustrate how sharing what we have can multiply the happiness of ourselves and others many times over.
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld: When Taylor’s block tower is knocked over, every animal has an opinion about how he should deal with his feelings. None of them are quite right. except for the rabbit. The rabbit just listens. The Rabbit Listened is perfectly illustrative of empathy and understanding not just how to respond to your own feelings of frustration, fear, or anger, but how to help others through the same things too.
Come With Me by Holly M. McGhee: We’ve all heard the story about Mr. Rogers asking us to look for the helpers when scary things happen- here’s a story that shows young kids how to BE the helpers. Encouraging young ones in your storytimes to see kindness and empathy as brave is a powerful message in any community.
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold: Libraries are not neutral. By accepting patrons of all backgrounds, faiths, races, sexual orientations, and gender identifications, by welcoming immigrants, refugees, and people all all nationalities, libraries take a political stance everyday. It’s important to own the intentionality of truly welcoming everyone. We do see color and outward markers of faith and nationality. We see you and we welcome you. We respect you! We value your culture and your story. All Are Welcome emphasizes the importance of inclusion rather than diversity or tolerance.
The Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña: Oh, this book. Last Stop touches on so many lovely things. Appreciating the world around you, even the grit, even what’s broken, the beautiful and familiar intergenerational relationship of a grandparent and grandchild, and how beauty always has a way of sneaking up on you, whether its in a rainbow over the city skyline, or in a family finding joy in serving others. Last Stop and Come With Me both offer concrete ways kids and families can examine the gifts they have and how they can share them with others.
This is by no means an exhaustive list and it’s one I’m constantly expanding, revising, and adding to. I’d love to hear which books you share with your families around the holidays!
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