Top Ten Tuesday: Newly Published Thankful & Grateful Picture Books

While the roots of Thanksgiving are difficult, I think it’s important for people to take time not only to spend with family or friends, but to consciously create a attitude of gratitude. And I know, all too well, that not every has had an easy year, and there is something to acknowledge there as well. But, there has been research that by finding those small moments of thankfulness or gratitude can help your mental health.

This Top Ten Tuesday post is a list of recently published (within the past few years) picture books about Thanksgiving, thankfulness, and gratitude. I hope you get a chance to spend time with the people you love during the holiday and I am thankful for you readers, I love getting a chance to be a part of your life.

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Newly Published Thankful & Grateful Picture Books

Be Thankful for Plants by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Brian Fitzgerald

Would animals be satisfied without plants? They would not!
Leaves for gorillas, Food for antelopes,
Grasses for zebras on African slopes.
Plankton for small krill, Greens for manatees
Plants provide food in big oceans and seas.

The third book in the successful Be Thankful . . . series, Plants uses lilting, rhyming couplets to explore the many ways that plants are essential to our lives and the existence of life on earth. But it doesn’t stop there! Kids will also learn about the many uses of plants—and the environmental danger to plants posed by pollution and lack of respect for this precious resource. In this series, kids are encouraged to be kind, not only to one another but to the environment as well. Kids will view the many types of plants in our lives and will see them in a whole new light after going on a botanical eco-tour in this gorgeous poem about plants.

Being Thankful with Gabrielle by Marie-Therese Miller

Being thankful means feeling happy for the good things in our lives. Learn with Gabrielle and the rest of your friends on Sesame Street how to be grateful for sunny and rainy days.

What are you thankful for?

Finding Grateful by Dianne White, illustrated by Faith Pray

What does grateful look like? How does it feel? How do you find it? Even in the face of a challenge, you don’t need a map: You just need to pay attention to the little things—a smile, a hug, the smell of newly cut grass—that add up to a sense of presence and hope.

With evocative, lyrical prose, this warmly illustrated children’s book is a reminder to pause, reflect, and take in the glimmers of positivity and connection that can be found amid even the most difficult circumstances. Both a timely meditation on finding gratitude in everyday moments and a timeless ode to the simple joy of truly being present, Finding Grateful encourages readers to slow down and embrace the beauty of being right where they are.

Gather Grateful by Megan Litwin, illustrated by Alexandra Finkeldey

Gather twigs and sticks to nest.
Gather safety, strength, and rest.
Gather up and fly away.
Gather close. Prepare to stay.

As colors in nature start to change, animals begin gathering items—squirrels their acorns, crows their treasures, raccoons the bits and pieces needed to fortify their homes. Animals of all species prepare to gather with each other too, for warmth, for affection, for sharing food or stories. With lilting, rhythmic prose, Megan Litwin heralds the beginning of the season and follows the transition of animals and humans as they prepare for the coming winter. Alexandra Finkeldey’s striking limited palette, capturing the preparations outside and in, brings this story of love and gratitude to quietly glowing life.

Giving Thanks with Halmoni by Kathleen Choi and Sook Nyul Choi, illustrated by Il Sung Na

As the moon grows fuller each night, Su-Jin’s halmoni (grandmother) prepares for the biggest Korean holiday of the year—a time for family, gratitude, and remembrance.

Eager to share the celebration, Su-Jin invites her friends Maddy and Keisha to help Halmoni get ready. Together, they prepare traditional foods, wrap gifts in colorful cloth, play festive games, and learn how to honor ancestors. Along the way, the girls discover how to wish each other a happy Chuseok in Korean and explore the connections between Korean and American Thanksgiving traditions.

How To Say Thank You by Jean Reagan, illustrated by Lee Wildish

What are you thankful for? Whether it’s a BIG moment like Grandpa taking you to a parade, a little moment like sharing a favorite snack, or even an unexpected moment like a new friend moving in next door, there are so many things to be thankful for!

Come and discover all the ways to say thank you during Thanksgiving and beyond!

I Am Thankful: A Thanksgiving Book for Kids by Sheri Wall

Teach kids about coming together with loved ones to give thanks! I Am Thankful is an adorable, rhyming storybook that follows three different families as they celebrate the holiday with their own traditions, acts of kindness, and ways of giving back.

Kids will learn how to be thankful for the people and world around them as they delight in the sweet illustrations that show diverse families and exciting Thanksgiving adventures. This heartfelt, poetic story will show young ones the meaning of giving and sharing.

Thank You, Gracias by Susie Jaramillo

Sing and learn about what it means to give thanks, in both English and Spanish. Thank You, Gracias is full of bright, cheerful art featuring the Little Chickies and other favorite Canticos characters, and engaging lift-the-flaps. This board book is a great way to make learning and singing with your little ones special and unique in not one, but two languages.

Thank You, Teacher by Supriya Kelkar

From weekday triumphs to school-trip catastrophes and even hard-to-place apostrophes, there is no problem too hard to solve when a teacher is in the classroom.

Award-winning author Supriya Kelkar crafts a delightful ode to the teachers everywhere who shape our lives. Featuring a wide variety of teachers―from homeroom to gym to music class―this is the perfect present book for any school-aged child and their educators, and includes a do-it-yourself thank-you note with a how-to guide!

Thanksgiving Is a Blessing by Rachel Tawil Kenyon, illustrated by Udayana Lugo

From sunrise to sunset, a community journeys through a Thanksgiving day, bringing together offerings of family, friendship, tradition, and love. Together, they harvest their gardens for a food bank, run the annual Turkey Trot, share recipes passed down for generations, and welcome friends and family home as they gather block party-style for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving Is a Blessing celebrates the holiday as an opportunity to be our best selves. Warm, lively illustrations bring the celebration to life, while lyrical text captures how Thanksgiving can be special for so many reasons. No matter how one celebrates, it is a chance to connect and reconnect, reminisce and make new memories.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.