The Best Thanksgiving Read-Aloud Books

In a text that mirrors their language and thoughts, Marcia Sewall has masterfully recreated the coming of the pilgrims to the New World, and the daily flow of their days during the first years in the colony they called Plimoth.

From the dangerous voyage across the Atlantic to the first harsh winter to the delicious Thanksgiving feast, all the excitement and wonder of the Pilgrims’ first year in America is captured in this vivid retelling that is perfect for the youngest historians.

The Pilgrims called the celebration the Harvest Feast. The Pawtuxet Indians thought of it as the Green Corn Dance. But the first Thanksgiving was much more than that.

Describes the voyage of the Mayflower and the difficulties encountered by the Pilgrims during their first year in the New World, and recounts how they celebrated their first harvest.

In these richly detailed pages, you'll meet three of the young Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower, Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary Allerton. When Bartholemew, Remember, and Mary Allerton and their parents first step down from the Mayflower after sixty days at sea, they never dream that life in the New World will be so hard.

At a young age, John Howland learned what it meant to take advantage of an opportunity. Leaving the docks of London on the Mayflower as an indentured servant to Pilgrim John Carver, John Howland little knew that he was embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.

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.

In 1608, English traders came to Massachusetts and captured a twelve-year-old Indian, Squanto, and sold him into slavery. He was raised by Christians and taught faith in God. Ten years later he was sent home to America.

Filled with full-color photographs of the Mayflower II, a thrilling story follows the adventures of William Small and Ellen Moore as they travel from England to America without their families.

Chosen to become a special warrior prince in 1627, Tapenum prepares himself for the great honor by hunting, fishing, and sharing a day with friends and family, in a story that is complemented by photographs of Plymouth Plantation.

Samuel Eaton is a young boy living in an early American settlement in the year 1627, and today is the day he will help with his first rye harvest!

At sunup when the cockerel crows, young Sarah Morton's day begins. Come and join her as she goes about her work and play in an early American settlement in the year 1627.

In the early 1900s, Pumphrey, a primary school teacher, compiled stories from a number of original sources, including William Bradford's diary Of Plimouth Plantation and Edward Winslow's journal Good Newes from New England--stories of faith, courage, and joy that became the seeds of a great nation.

This lovely biography tells about the life of Squanto the Wampanoag Indian who befriends the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Learn how he goes to London with some of the first English explorers, is sold into slavery in Spain, and finally returns to America where he meets the Pilgrims.

In England in the early 1600s, everyone was forced to join the Church of England. Young William Bradford and his friends believed they had every right to belong to whichever church they wanted. In the name of religious freedom, they fled to Holland, then sailed to America to start a new life.

In this festive Caldecott Honor–winning picture book, Alice Dalgiesh brings to life the origin of the Thanksgiving holiday for readers of all ages.

The compelling and historically-accurate Mary of Plymouth, the tale of sixteen-year-old Mary, who sailed with over a hundred Pilgrims on the Mayflower to establish a colony in America.

Celebrate food and family with this heartwarming Thanksgiving picture book. In this spirited ode to the holiday, set at the turn of the twentieth century, a large family works together to make their special meal. Mama prepares the turkey, Daddy tends the fire, Sister kneads, and Brother bastes. Everyone—from Grandma and Grandpa to the littlest baby—has a special job to do.

Mr. and Mrs. Moose invite all their animal friends for Thanksgiving dinner and the only one missing is Turkey. When they set out to find him, Turkey is quaking with fear because he doesn't realize that his hosts want him at their table, not on it.

Illustrated in the author's trademark style, this heartwarming story is based on a real Thanksgiving banquet given in Brown's Hole, Utah, in the 1890s by the infamous outlaw Butch Cassidy and his gang.

Everyone’s a New Yorker on Thanksgiving Day, when young and old rise early to see what giant new balloons will fill the skies for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Who first invented these "upside-down puppets"? Meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire!

When young Pilgrim Faith Barrett discovers a stray cat on the Mayflower, she names her new friend Pounce. Together they face the long, cramped voyage and the perils of the first winter at the Plymouth colony.