Accion de gracias, Thanksgiving Day, Del Sol Books

Authors : Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, Illustrator : Claudia Rueda, Translators : Joe Hayes and Sharon Franco
Kindergarten - 6th Grade

Beto and Gaby anxiously wait for their relatives to arrive for Thanksgiving dinner. One by one, each guest calls to inform them that they will not be able to attend because of a great snow storm. Thanks giving with out Grandma and the rest of the family is just not the same. What will they do with so much food? What they don’t suspect is that their grand mother has a surprise or two, or three.

An overview of Thanksgiving celebrations including the Thanksgiving celebration which took place in El Paso, Texas years before the one in Plymouth and a history of how Thanksgiving became a national celebration. Includes numerous informative photographs.

The history of the Thanksgiving celebration in the United Sates is complex. Having a celebration to give thanks for a good harvest or surviving a perilous situation was an established practice in European countries, unfortunately during the colonization of the United States this practice was also extended to the celebration of victories after battles with the indigenous people of the land, on several different occasions. What for some was a moment of triumph, for others was a moment of defeat and the perpetuation of great injustice. The complexity of the history behind this celebration needs to be explained to children at the appropriate moment. Using this day to express our gratitude for life and life’s gifts and as an occasion to reflect on the need for solidarity and the determination to fight against injustice would give the celebration a valuable meaning.

Author's Note : When my family arrived in the United States they embraced the Thanksgiving celebration as an opportunity to reunite with family that was dispersed through various states. It was always a time of inclusion for both immediate and extended family and friends were always welcomed. It was that capacity to always include one more friend that inspired my book In the Cow’s Backyard. The feeling of gratitude is, for me, one of the most important. I believe in the value of living in constant gratitude, and nurturing this feeling has for me become second nature. I try to breathe purposefully, giving thanks for the gift of life which each breath signifies. I appreciate the opportunity to get together with family to reflect about our blessings and express our gratitude for them. As I write these lines, Thanksgiving Day is just a week away. I am thankful that once more we will have immediate and extended family, and friends, to celebrate together the joy of life. A different view to Thanksgiving celebration is presented in Turkey for Thanksgiving. The dissenting voice in that book is that of the turkey. For the turkey, becoming the dish of the party is not a good idea. While the book reads as a fun story, it is my intention that by presenting a different point of view in this way, children will begin to realize that every situation can be seen from different angles, depending on the position of those involved.

Listen to Vienna Rose read Thanksgiving Day to you. A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children. And here's an earlier reading by Vienna Rose.

Accion de gracias Thanksgiving Day Lesson Plan
K-2nd Grade	3rd-6th Grade
Lesson Plan [Spanish] [English]	Lesson Plan [Spanish] [English]
Worksheet [Spanish] [English]	Worksheet [Spanish] [English]
Creative Reading Questions [Spanish] [English]
Creative Reading Assessments