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   10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston & illustrated by Rich Deas “Looky!” says a silly turkey swinging from a vine. Gobble gobble wibble wobble. Whoops! Now there are nine.” Girls and boys will gobble up this hilarious counting story about ten goofy turkeys roller-skating on a fence, doing a noodle dance, and more! Give …

By Phoebe Vreeland, The Children’s Book Review
Published: November 4, 2010

Thanksgiving is a celebration of abundance and there is a virtual cornucopia of children’s books about this holiday.  You can find a Thanksgiving themed book featuring every child’s favorite character from Amelia Bedelia to Scooby Doo.  Bookstore shelves are laden with picture books about the first Thanksgiving as well as ones about today’s holiday tradition.  There even seems to be a whole genre of entertaining books about turkeys on the run.

So with the Thanksgiving spread overflowing, what will you look for in books for your children? What you choose to serve your children helps create the tradition we wish to carry on.  If you want a book that teaches history, it can be tricky.  That harvest feast of 1621 has inspired many an author to use it as a tableau and many an illustrator has romanticized and created beautifully idealized images.  Take care to choose books that are accurate and respectful towards everyone at that table.  Rather than choosing books for their familiar story and warm illustrations, take time to read a book through carefully by yourself before sharing it with your child.  Guidance offered here may inform your choice: http://www.oyate.org.

Today, the Thanksgiving tradition encompasses many things. For some, it is a time to travel, a time to gather with family and friends and feast.  It is a time to watch a football game, attend a school play or a parade.  Above all, the holiday is about giving thanks.  This makes it a wonderful opportunity to evoke gratitude in children.  The list includes several books to encourage this.  It also offers educational books that aim to be culturally sensitive and historically accurate.  The other selections are simply unique or just plain silly—usually about a turkey in trouble.

Happy Thanksgiving!  May your holiday be filled with gratitude, good will, and good books.

Hardscrabble Harvest

by Dahlov Ipcar

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Hardcover: 32 pages

Publisher: Islandport Press (September 15, 2009)

Source: Library

What to expect: Hardscrabble Harvest uses rollicking verse and Ipcar’s distinctive illustrations to tell a charming story about the running battle between a farm family and the mischievous animals that plunder their fields. Crows peck at freshly sown seeds, ducks eat new strawberry plants, rabbits nibble on tender lettuces, and raccoons dine on ears of ripening corn. All summer long the young farmer and his wife are ha

The End of Faith. The God Delusion. God Is Not Great. Letter to a Christian Nation. Bestseller lists are filled with doubters. But what happens when you actually doubt your doubts?

Dr Tim Keller (pastor of my church here in NYC) has a great new book coming out (February 14). The book not only received an early review in Publisher's Weekly (no mean feat in itself) but it's a good one:

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
Timothy Keller. Dutton, ISBN 978-0-525-95049-3

"In this apologia for Christian faith, Keller mines material from literary classics, philosophy, anthropology and a multitude of other disciplines to make an intellectually compelling case for God. Written for skeptics and the believers who love them, the book draws on the author's encounters as founding pastor of New York's booming Redeemer Presbyterian Church. One of Keller's most provocative arguments is that 'all doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs.' Drawing on sources as diverse as 19th-century author Robert Louis Stevenson and contemporary New Testament theologian N.T. Wright, Keller attempts to deconstruct everyone he finds in his way, from the evolutionary psychologist Richard Dawkins to popular author Dan Brown. The first, shorter part of the book looks at popular arguments against God's existence, while the second builds on general arguments for God to culminate in a sharp focus on the redemptive work of God in Christ. Keller's condensed summaries of arguments for and against theism make the scope of the book overwhelming at times. Nonetheless, it should serve both as testimony to the author's encyclopedic learning and as a compelling overview of the current debate on faith for those who doubt and for those who want to reevaluate what they believe, and why." PW

Very cool. I highly recommend him to you. I'm constantly challenged and inspired by his teaching... and best of all, if I'm lucky, left doubting my doubts...

For more information here.