This round-up of Thanksgiving books for kids and adults will be sure to have a book that each member of your family will enjoy regardless of age and will be a relaxing addition to the craziness of the holiday season (I hope!).

We read a lot in my family. One of my favorite times of the day is in the evening after the chaos of dinner and clean up and the kids are bathed and in soft pajamas and ready to settle down. We curl up together (and fight over who sits next to me or on top of me lol) and read picture books for the younger kids and read-alouds for the older.

We tend to read a lot of Christmas books but I find myself leaving out other seasons and holidays. I am hoping to expand our book choices this year with more Thanksgiving books for kids (and me)!

Thanksgiving Books for Kids and Adults

I tried to find Thanksgiving books for all age groups here. There are many more that could be included and if your family has a favorite, I’d love for you to tell me about it in the comments below. I will definitely include it when I update this post next year!

I checked out several kids’ books about Thanksgiving from the library and found a few of them to be quite dumb so I didn’t include them. I don’t know if I’m just a snob, but I can’t tell you how many times we’ve borrowed awful books. Hopefully, you enjoy these!

How Do You Explain Thanksgiving to Preschoolers?

These Thanksgiving books are great for preschool and kindergarten. The stories invite the kids to understand not only the traditions of Thanksgiving, but the importance of being thankful. The history of Thanksgiving is also explained simply and with attractive illustrations.

My youngest two love “Thanksgiving Treat”. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, everyone is very busy. Grandma is stuffing the turkey. Dad is chopping firewood. The cousins are shucking corn. But the youngest member of the family feels left out. He has nothing to do! Until Grandpa has an idea, and invites him along to share in the most special Thanksgiving treat ever!

In “Thanks for Thanksgiving“, Julie Markes reminds kids and adults alike about the little details that make each day enjoyable, while Doris Barrette’s beautiful and striking illustrations bring her thoughtful words to life.

We can’t leave out Charlie Brown! When Peppermint Patty invites herself (and most of her friends) to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, Charlie Brown reluctantly agrees to make a holiday feast even though he can barely make toast and cold cereal!

“The Story of the Pilgrims”. 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 easy to understand retelling that is perfect for kids of all ages.

“Squanto’s Journey: the Story of Thanksgiving” is written from Squanto’s perspective. It is full of facts that might make it too long for younger kids, but it has beautiful illustrations. 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.

How about fun fall poems to stimulate your child’s imagination? Click the image below to check out these cute fall poem coloring pages!

Great Read-Aloud books about Thanksgiving

If you have a wide age range in your family, read-aloud books about Thanksgiving will be perfect. For me, this is the best kind of learning. We are all together as a family, reading and commenting and enjoying both our time together and the story.

“William Bradford: Pilgrim Boy” is a thoroughly researched and personable biography of the first governor of Plymouth Plantation. Read about Bradford’s difficult childhood in England and see how he was being prepared by hardship and loss to face the challenges of his adult life

We have read “Pilgrim Boy” twice now and thoroughly enjoy it. Travel to the New World with Edward, a nine-year-old Pilgrim boy. Encounter the dangers of the wilderness and see the preserving hand of God. Third graders will be thrilled with this absorbing, historically accurate novel.

For those of you who read Nancy Drew as teens, you will love the younger version of our beloved sleuth in “Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Thanksgiving Feast” River Heights Elementary School is having a Thanksgiving pageant, and Nancy, Bess, and George want to dress up as Native Americans! But when the town starts preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, the girls end up smelling a mystery instead of turkey. As Thanksgiving food around town starts to disappear, the Clue Crew realizes that someone is trying to destroy the holiday! Can the Crew catch these birdbrained bandits? Or will Thanksgiving dinner be a recipe for disaster?

Help your kids see everything they have to be thankful for with these gratitude journaling pages! Click the image to subscribe and download your free pages.

Thanksgiving Books for Adults

As much as I enjoy reading, I do not take the time to read for myself. I wanted to include Thanksgiving books for adults so I asked my friend Aryn at Aryn the Libraryan and she put together a nice list for me. I hope you make time to curl up in your favorite chair and enjoy one of these!

Thanksgiving Books and Blessings Series is an 8 book series. This is the description for the first book. In Book One of the Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection and the all new Cross Timbers Family Saga series, Gone to Texas uncovers a deception that drives seventeen souls to hard choices. Either stay on the land they thought they’d bought or heed the lure of free land in the faraway wilderness of a new Republic. Rife with peril and hardship, three families knit together by blood and friendship head out with a widowed man, daughter, and his slave, gambling everything they own on the prospect of land ownership and working it together. Does friendship pave a way to marriage? Can puppy-love survive through a harrowing journey to blossom into a forever love? With duress at every turn, can the clan stay together all the way to Texas and accomplish their goals?

Amish Thanksgiving Homecoming. Miriam has not been home since that fateful day three years ago. Now, ready to face her past, she comes home to her Amish roots for Thanksgiving dinner. But is she ready to learn the truth about what really happened that day, and can she regain the courage to open heart to pure and lasting love?

Fall Girl is Book 9 in the Garden Girls Cozy Mysteries Series. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, the townsfolk of Belhaven are busy preparing for the upcoming feast with friends and family. When a body is discovered in the vacant farmhouse across the street from Gloria Rutherford’s place, Gloria is horrified to think that someone…a killer, is on the loose. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that the body found in the house is none other than her best friend, Lucy Carlson’s ex-boyfriend.

Thanksgiving Protector: Faith in the Face of Crime Series. When border patrol agent Kylie Perry’s informant is murdered, she makes good on her promise to raise the woman’s baby girl…but soon becomes the target of a killer. Now Kylie must find a way to juggle motherhood and her work on a joint task force aiming to capture a notorious drug kingpin—and somehow stay alive. Texas Ranger Austin Rivers, who’s partnering with Kylie on the case, is a lone wolf dedicated to his job. Yet as the criminal’s henchmen come after Kylie and her baby, Austin vows to protect them. And as Thanksgiving approaches, the man who never thought he was father material risks everything to save a woman and child who feel like family.

Thanksgiving Books

Do you have any Thanksgiving books that you enjoy or you enjoy reading to your kids? Books about seasons changing are always fun too. We have several of those that we enjoy also.

I remember last year half of us ended up with a stomach bug in November and spent the entire afternoon lying on the couch reading “Pilgrim Boy”. I am planning on NOT experiencing that again this year lol

If you are feeling in the mood for fall, check out these other posts!

10 Easy Apple Recipes for Kids

14 Pumpkin Recipes for Kids