It’s all there in the name: Thanksgiving is about gratitude, it’s about paying attention, noticing all the good things in our lives and in the world, and choosing to be thankful. Thanksgiving is also about sharing and communing with each other. No wonder it involves coming together for a big meal! And that brings us to our Picture Book Highlight selection for this month – a series where we put the spotlight on a book that has been ordered for all branches.

Around the Table That Grandad Built, written by Melanie Heuiser Hill and illustrated by Jaime Kim, is all about family, friends and food, about connections and diversity, with everyone young and old coming together to celebrate a meal. Taking its cue from the cumulative nursery rhyme "The House That Jack Built", this story is told with the same rhythm, from describing everyone’s contribution getting the table ready to all the different foods prepared:

This is the table that Grandad built.
These are the sunflowers picked by my cousins,
set on the table that Grandad built.

This is the stack of toasty tamales.

These are the samosas, spicy and hot.

It’s a book to be read and enjoyed all year round, with a special resonance during this time of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Visit your neighborhood library to find this book and more!