Thanksgiving Picture Books

A selection of picture books for the Thanksgiving season, highlighting celebrations of all kinds.
Updated October 2, 2022
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Over the River and Through the Wood
Lydia Maria Child
Matt Tavares's lavish illustrations illuminate this definitive edition of a beloved seasonal classic.The horse is ready, the air is bracing, and everyone is bundled into the sleigh. So let the wind blow and the snow start to fall! This family is off to Grandfather's house for a delicious feast. Matt...
Cranberry Thanksgiving
Wende Devlin
Today was Thanksgiving, Grandmother's favorite day of the year. The cooking was done and her famous cranberry bread was cooling on the wooden board. Every year Grandmother invited a guest for dinner and allowed Maggie to do the same. "Ask someone poor or lonely," she always said. She wasn...
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving
Laurie Halse Anderson
From the author of Speak and Fever, 1793, comes the never-before-told tale of Sarah Josepha Hale, the extraordinary "lady editor" who made Thanksgiving a national holiday! Thanksgiving might have started with a jubilant feast on Plymouth's shore. But by the 1800s...
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade
Melissa Sweet
From Caldecott Honor artist Melissa Sweet comes the perfect Thanksgiving Day picture book. Let's have a parade! Meet the master puppeteer who invented the first balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Melissa Sweet brings to life the inspirational story of the puppeteer who...
Thanksgiving Treat
Catherine Stock
Join one special family as they get together to create some tasty Thanksgiving treats in this charming holiday story. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, everyone is very busy. Grandma is stuffing the turkey. Dad is chopping firewood. The cousins are shucking corn. But the...
Turkey Trouble
Wendi Silvano
Turkey is in trouble. Bad trouble. The kind of trouble where it's almost Thanksgiving...and you're the main course. But Turkey has an idea--what if he doesn't look like a turkey? What if he looks like another animal instead? After many hilarious attempts, Turkey comes up with the...
Thanksgiving in the Woods
Phyllis Alsdurf
A true holiday classic, this cozy autumn story invites readers to join in an outdoor Thanksgiving feast, full of cheer and generosity of spirit Every year a family and their friends gather in the woods to celebrate Thanksgiving among the trees. Everyone brings something to share and the...
Thanksgiving at the Tappletons'
Eileen Spinelli
You're invited! Join the Tappletons, the nicest bunch of wolves ever, for a very special Thanksgiving meal. Everyone has a job to do. Mrs. Tappleton is making the turkey. Mr. Tappleton is buying the pies. Kenny is in charge of the salad. Jenny is mashing the potatoes. It seems like everything is...
Duck for Turkey Day
Jacqueline Jules
It's almost Thanksgiving, and Tuyet is excited about the holiday and the vacation from school. There's just one problem: her Vietnamese American family is having duck for Thanksgiving dinner - not turkey! Nobody has duck for Thanksgiving - what will her teacher and the other kids think? To her...
Sarah Gives Thanks: How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday
Mike Allegra
During the nineteenth century, Sarah Josepha Hale dedicated her life to making Thanksgiving a national holiday, all while raising a family and becoming a groundbreaking writer and women's magazine editor. Sarah Hale's inspiring story, accompanied by luscious watercolor illustrations, tells the tale...
Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving
Joseph Bruchac
In 1620 an English ship called the Mayflower landed on the shores inhabited by the Pokanoket, and it was Squanto who welcomed the newcomers and taught them how to survive. When a good harvest was gathered, the people feasted together--a tradition that continues almost four hundred years later.
Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story
Pat Zietlow Miller
Celebrate food and family with this heartwarming Thanksgiving picture book. We will share the risen bread. / Our made-with-love Thanksgiving spread. / Grateful to be warm and fed. / We will share the bread. In this spirited ode to the holiday, set at the turn of the twentieth century, a large...
The Berenstain Bears and the prize pumpkin /
Berenstain, Stan,
Join the Berenstain Bears as they celebrate Thanksgiving and count their blessings. Makes a perfect gift with over 50 bonus fall-themed stickers! This Berenstain Bears story is a perfect way to teach children about what they should truly be thankful for. Come for a visit in Bear...
Fangsgiving
Ethan Long
Geisel Award-winning author and illustrator Ethan Long turns his attention to the day of thanks with a story that's to die for. It's the fourth Thursday of November, and the members of Fright Club are cooking up something spooky . . . a Thanksgiving feast! But...
’Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
Dav Pilkey
From Dav Pilkey, creator of the New York Times bestselling Dog Man and Captain Underpants series, comes a tall tale of tall-tailed toms!School children on a field trip to Mack Nugget's farm save the lives of eight turkeys in this poem based on "The Night Before Christmas."
Arthur's Thanksgiving
Marc Brown
Arthur finds his role as director of the Thanksgiving play a difficult one, especially since no one will agree to play the turkey.
Franklin's Thanksgiving
Paulette Bourgeois
In this Franklin Classic Storybook, our young hero likes everything about Thanksgiving, from eating pumpkin-fly pie to making cornucopias. But what he likes best is having his Grandma and Grandpa share the holiday with him and his family. This year, however, his grandparents are traveling abroad....

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.