Thanksgiving

Five books to be grateful for.

 


 

N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims

By N.C. Wyeth, with text by Robert San Souci

 

The forty murals of Pilgrim life that N.C. Wyeth made for New York's Metropolitan Life Insurance Company might not be totally factually accurate, but they are gorgeous. San Souci's carefully delineated history of the Pilgrims' trip on the Mayflower accompanies Wyeth's visual depiction of the culture that gave birth to our November ritual.

 

 


The Gift of Thanks

By Margaret Visser

 

An "anthropologist of everyday life," Visser investigates the cultural significance of gratitude from why parents feel so determined to get their kids to say "thank you" to how other cultures handle such things. Exploring the topic from diverse scientific and historical perspectives, Visser's illuminating book earns the reader's gratitude many times over.

 

 

 


 

Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

By Joseph Bruchac

 

Told from the Native American perspective, this book for young readers follows Squanto as he is kidnapped to be put into slavery in Europe and then escapes to England, where he learns the language before returning to his homeland to play a crucial role in helping the first New England colonists survive.

 


 

A Grateful Heart: Daily Blessings for the Evening Meal from Buddha to the Beatles

Edited by M.J. Ryan

 

Blessings over the evening meal can help build community, foster conversation, and create gratitude for all that we have. Ryan gathers 365 of them, broken down by season and topic, from every source imaginable: from religious leaders of all stripes to the secular musings of Lennon and McCartney. Amen.

 

 

 


 

Christmas Memory, One Christmas, and the Thanksgiving Visitor

By Truman Capote

 

Capote's nuanced read-aloud storybook for children set in 1932 rural Alabama tells a tale of forgiveness and grace. At its center is the troubled school bully, Odd Henderson, who is invited to the home of one of his main victims for Thanksgiving -- only to be caught stealing from his host.

 

 

May 20: Blue jeans celebrate their unofficial 140th birthday today, the dry goods merchant Levi Strauss and the tailor Jacob Davis receiving a patent on May 20, 1873 for "a new article of manufacture, a pair of pantaloons having the…

Ethan Rutherford and Matt Burgess (Dogfight: A Love Story) on the writing of Rutherford's surreal and fiercely funny story collection The Peripatetic Coffin

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My Struggle, Book Two

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Minotaur

This newly reissued Cold War classic profiles an Israeli spy obsessed with an English girl half his age, and his attempts to win her love without ever revealing his true identity.