November 2024
From cooking the turkey to decorating the table, Fort Bend County Libraries can help you plan a memorable family affair with an assortment of Thanksgiving-related books on holiday traditions, foods, decorations, and more! The library has a variety of resources for the holiday season, from history, symbols, and tradition, to crafts, decorations, and favorite children’s stories.
The history of the Thanksgiving holiday has been a turbulent one, not settling into the holiday as we know it today until the 20th century. Books such as Mayflower Lives: Pilgrims in a New World and the Early American Experience, by Martyn Whittock; Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America's Origin, by Joseph Kelly; and The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage, and the Founding of America, by Rebecca Fraser, offer insight into the early days of the pilgrims.
Thanksgiving: Why We Celebrate It the Way We Do, by Martin and Kate Hintz, provides a treasury of folklore and tales of the origin of the holiday. Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving, by Laurie Halse Anderson, tells the story of Sarah Joseph Hale, a magazine editor who doggedly wrote letters and editorials for four decades, in an effort to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.
Have you ever wondered where the traditions of turkeys, cornucopias, and pilgrims’ hats come from? Edna Barth’s Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols may provide some insight. Thanksgiving in the White House, by Gary Hines, tells a story of the official presidential pardon of the White House turkey, begun by Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
While planning the Thanksgiving feast, creative cooks may want to add a touch of history and tradition to their table after reading Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, From Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie, by Kathleen Curtin. Impress your guests with whimsical table decorations from Jill Stovall’s Fabrigami: The Origami Art of Folding Cloth to Create Decorative and Useful Objects.
Numerous children’s books are available with a variety of Thanksgiving themes. ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving is a popular book by Dav Pilkey, but who can forget the video tradition of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, based on Charles Schulz’s Peanuts cartoons? Jean Eick suggests a number of fun activities in Thanksgiving Crafts, and Randel McGee offers other ideas in Paper Crafts for Thanksgiving.
Some additional Thanksgiving-themed resources include:
- Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday, by James W. Baker
- A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841, by Barbara Greenwood
- 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving, by Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac
- Fine Cooking Thanksgiving Cookbook: Recipes for Turkey and All the Trimmings, compiled by the editors of Fine Cooking magazine.
- Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well, by Sam Sifton
- Giving Thanks: How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday, by Denise Kieman
- Party Central: A Month-by-Month Guide to Entertaining on the Cheap: Festive and Frugal Ideas for Every Occasion
- Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation, by Diane Stanley
You can also explore some of the seasonal fall crafts demonstrated by our FBCL staff on our YouTube channel!
In the spirit of the season, we at Fort Bend County Libraries are thankful for YOU and we hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!