Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson; Illustrations by Jane Chapman

*Picture book for preschool through 2nd graders (Thanksgiving theme, talking animals)
*Bear as main character
*Rating: My daughter loves all these books (Bear Snores On, etc.), and so do I! The illustrations are so cute, and the story always holds her attention. (She loves animals!)

Short, short summary: In Bear Says Thanks, Bear is hungry, but his cupboard is bare. Lucky for him, he has friends that bring him a food for a feast. It starts with little mouse and her pie, and then different animals come in–such as rabbit, wren, and so on–they bring plenty of food for everyone to share. And Bear makes sure to say thanks! But what can Bear contribute to the feast? Pick up a copy of the book to find out!

So, what do I do with this book?

1. It is the perfect Thanksgiving book, but you could actually use it at any time of the year because it focuses on sharing and saying thanks. So, children can learn to say thank you to their friends, to be thankful for their friends and food, and to share with their friends, too. After reading it, ask children to tell you or draw/write about a time they said THANKS to a friend.

2. Bear doesn’t have any food to share, but he does have stories to share. What does this mean? This would be a good lesson to point out to children that you don’t always have to share material goods. Sometimes, helping someone, making them smile, cleaning up–is another way of sharing yourself and of saying you are thankful. You can set up opportunities at home or in the classroom for children to share their talents, like Bear shares his talent of storytelling.

3. If children were going to create a FRIEND feast, what would they have each person bring? Would it be the same as Bear and his friends (probably not!). You can do this as a shared writing activity. You can have the sentence stem: To the feast, I will bring strawberries. To the feast, I will bring pizza. Then students can copy their sentence and draw a picture to do with it, which can be then made into a classroom book!