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Pat Zietlow Miller, author of Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story, selected these five family favorites.

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And now we come to our smallest wildebeest.

I remember those tiny, newborn fists curling out of a green blanket.
I made it five summers ago out of fabric so soft it felt like clouds, 
with the hope it could keep out the world's roughness as long as possible.

Ergo, in the nature of a true youngest child,
Birdy scrambles up trees and leaps from the highest branches,
tumbles headfirst into high winds,
and rakes up her knees better than all the others.
She is so ready for this.
 
Kindergarten.

Always looking to make art,
I decided to make flashcards - heaps of them. 

I think I'll do a weekly series of the collection on my art blog.
They're for learning sight words, one of the ways to catch on to reading.

I guess this is my gift to her, like the green cloud blanket.
A way to say:
"When you want me, if you want help, I'm here. I love you."
 
Maybe it's proof. 
And maybe every parent offering,
every bowl of oatmeal we cook up,
every lunch we pack, every book read aloud,
every tuck-in at night
is us, saying:
  "You precious small people, you are loved."

   "Even though we got grouchy about the muddy footprints,
     or the scrabbly big mess in your rooms,
     you are loved." 

And maybe, it is proof for us as well.
Maybe these offerings to our small ones are gifts we keep close
as our birds wing the nest,
as our hair grays and our skin weathers,
knowing that in all our human roughness,
we have loved.


Friends, may you find love all around you,
and gifts in the giving.

 Books:

I Will Never Get a Star on Mrs. Benson's Blackboard - Jennifer Mann
Orange Pear Apple Bear - Emily Gravett
Owl Babies - Martin Waddell, Patrick Benson


Bo at Iditarod Creek - Kirkpatrick Hill
The Mighty Miss Malone - Christopher Paul Curtis
The War That Saved My Life - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
A Year Down Yonder - Richard Peck

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As we begin a season of reflection and celebration, we are pleased to share some of our favorite books on thankfulness and being grateful that will help young readers on their journey to understanding gratitude.

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They say each season has a rightful place:

A time to scribble,
A time to paint.

A time to read good books,
A time to dream up new ones.

A time to craft words,
A time to delete.

A time to face the music,
A time to dance in the face of it.

It's the natural breath of our days -
The ups and downs of waves. 

Summer rushed to Fall a smidge too soon in my neck of the woods.
 
Birthdays, school starts,

First wiggly teeth,
Rounded hula hoops of doings.

Responsibilities loomed.

Do you ever drag your feet ?

I soured up a few days
kicking my heels against time and tides,
and then I remembered...

What of all the sacred moments today ?

What am I missing with my eyes shut tight against change?  

Here is the good news: 
Gratitude mends easily.
It always starts with today.

And thankfulness is magic. 
It turns straw into gold,
turns dirty dishes into a sacred space.



Farewell summer!    Hello Fall!

It's simple, right?
To find joy, we breathe.
In and out. 
   
And if breathing means working hard at a task today,
then may we find beauty under the stones at our feet.

Or if it means taking a ramble in the woods,
then let the leaves turn,
let the fruit fall
and find us with open hands.

"Nobody else but the rosebush knows

how nice mud feels between the toes."  

 - Polly Chase Boyden

 

 Book treasures that make me smile in all seasons:

The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Inga Moore
Firefly July - compiled by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
    Lindbergh - The Tale of a Flying Mouse, by Torben Kuhlmann
    The New Arrival by Vanya Nastanlieva

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Odd, Weird, and Little by Patrick Jennings

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We take Christmas as we find it.
Big or little. Rich or poor.
 
Our December began with a broken car.
Growing kids bursting out of their coats and socks and shoes.
And a skinnier piggy bank.

So we're doing homemade this Christmas.
And humble, homemade gifts won't hurt us a bit.

In light of so much sorrow around us this year,
all we have is gratitude.

The messes don't matter.
I am unspeakably thankful for these eight small hands,
alive and healthy,
for the joyful chaos that surrounds them,
for my imperfect, half-finished jumble,
the light, the squeals, the squabbles.

The egg carton bells.
Popsicle stick snowflakes.

Trying on wreaths as hats.

What matters is already surrounding us.

Love encircles us,
wraps us in glowing strands,
and though it doesn't magically take away the sorrows
of our broken world,
Love is the thing that will mend us.

It anchors us when winds and sorrows come.
Smooths out the wrinkles in our weary, bleary furrows.
Makes us small candles to give courage in the dark. 

Simple, homespun gifts may not be sophisticated,
fancy, or exactly on everyone's wish list,
but they are offerings of love.
and I'm okay with that.

Because love goes deeper than wish lists.


Christmas began with a gift
wrapped in old clothes and straw.
A humble gift.
A love gift.




Love to you, my friends.
Love.
Connecticut. Haiti. Japan.
Rwanda. Middle East. 
Love to you.


Picture Books We're Enjoying this Week:

 
 
The Christmas Tapestry- Patricia Polacco
Christmas in the Barn- Margaret Wise Brown, Barbara Cooney
A Child is Born - Elizabeth Winthrop, Charles Mikolaycak
Gleam and Glow - Eve Bunting, Peter Sylvada
Christmas with the Mousekins - Maggie Smith
The Little House Christmas - Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth Williams
One Wintry Night - Ruth Bell Graham, Richard Jesse Watson
The Joy of A Peanuts Christmas - Charles Schultz

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Some books that we love:

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Ten years ago today, my mother and I had the good fortune to hear a special song, performed a capella at the Thanksgiving dinner table by our dear friend Anne Runolfsson. That song was John Bucchino’s “Grateful,” and we were so moved by it that we ended up collaborating with John, and the gifted artist Anna-Liisa Hakkarainen, to turn it into a picture book.

That song continues to bless our lives, especially at this time of year, and always invites me to “remember how I’m blessed.”

I have so very much to be grateful for, but here’s just a partial list… heartfelt, albeit not nearly as poetically expressed as John’s lyrics:

• My terrific family, including my divine husband, beautiful children, and beloved parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and in-laws
• The health and energy that enables me to live fully and maintain a lively schedule of activities, both professional and personal
• Work that feels like play 99% of the time
• Our hilarious dog, Louie, who brings such humor and pleasure to our lives, closes doors and drawers when we forget to, and has introduced us to so many new friends
• Our home, which though not nearly as tidy or organized as I’d like, is a vibrant reflection of our busy, creative lives
• Living in a coastal village that is picturesque, full of history, eccentric and enchanting all at the same time
• The families who read and enjoy the books we write
• The technology that makes my work faster, easier and more enjoyable (especially all things Apple!)
• The creative colleagues whom I am so fortunate to work alongside, at Stony Brook Southampton, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and elsewhere
• My fellow authors, whom I admire and learn from every day, including the members of the Childrens Book Hub community
• Good friends who bring warmth, laughter and insight into our lives and days
• All the many, many Hamilton family ‘team members’ who make a daily contribution to our lives in countless ways – from the teachers, associates and assistants to the caregivers, therapists and myriad other comrades and providers who sustain our family’s continued growth and well-being
• The continued capacity for love, imagination, laughter, perspective, open-mindedness and wonder

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Gerstein, Mordicai. 2011. Dear Hot Dog. New York: Abrams.

Daylight at the end of the work day, leaving the house without a coat, lavender blue lemonade, watermelon, a cool ocean breeze, the smell of food cooking on the grill, sea legs after a day on the water.  These are just a few of the things that I am thankful for in the summer.

In Dear Hot Dog, Mordicai Gerstein brings us three friends and the mundane, but infinitely wonderful things that bring them joy and for which they are thankful.

Did you have cereal this morning?  If you did, did you give much thought to your
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