Something that I learned during my years of teaching preschool, is that young children (ages 1-3) live in the present. They are aware of their surroundings and the people who are with them. They might understand that Mommy is coming back in a few minutes. But at this age, concepts such as “yesterday”, “tomorrow”, or “last year” are difficult for them to process.

When Zonderkidz wanted me to add a Thanksgiving book to my holiday board book series, I knew that writing a 12-page board book with four lines per spread would be challenging. No way could I summarize the story of the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, and Squanto in fewer than 150 words. So I tried to put myself in the shoes of a two-year-old child and imagine what Thanksgiving Day is like for a little one. Bingo! The idea came right away.

For little ones (and even older children) Thanksgiving Day is a day of extended family, food, and thanking God for our many blessings. In our family, when the table was set and the turkey was carved, we always said a prayer of thanks to God before passing the mashed potatoes and gravy. I am sure that is true for most Christian families, so that became my idea for the book.

My Thanksgiving Prayer is a beautifully illustrated board book (illustrations by Claudine Gevry) that depicts a multi-generational family giving thanks around a table of food.

The text on the first spread reads:

We sit around the table
and we fold our hands to pray.
We say a thank-you prayer to God
on this Thanksgiving Day.

The prayer begins by thanking God for specific food like applesauce, potatoes, and pumpkin pie. The following pages include thanking God for families, birds, mountains, trees, sunny days, winter days, and everything that God gives us each day. I’ve had several mothers of preschoolers tell me that they use this book as their Thanksgiving Day prayer, and if they have older chilren, they have them read the book at the table.

I am grateful for our courageous ancestors who suffered many hardships in pursuit of religious freedom, and children need to know that story when they are old enough to comprehend the past. But for little ones who live in the moment, saying “Thank You” to God is a good thing to do on Thanksgiving Day or any day of the year!

With many thanks!

Crystal