I suggested this book in a post way back in November 2016 and have been thinking of it again this year. Sharing the Bread by Pat Zietlow Miller is billed as an old-fashioned Thanksgiving picture book. You might want to dismiss this when “picture book” comes up, but as I tell my two nine– and ten–year–old next-door grandsons, you never outgrow picture books.
Pat is a good writer friend that I met when she won an Ezra Jack Keats Award when she was just beginning her career as a children’s writer. She tells the story of a family that puts Thanksgiving together. It is a story set in another time that is also timeless. The family prepares for Thanksgiving together with every family member contributing something special from the smallest baby to Grandma and Grandpa. Her story is told in verse and beautifully illustrated by Jill McElmurry. The climax, as hinted in the title, comes when they share the bread.
If your family is together this Thanksgiving, I would recommend the book as a read-aloud before the Thanksgiving blessing for the meal. If you are separated for the holiday, I would recommend reading it to yourself, either silently or out loud, while enjoying the remembrance of Thanksgivings you’ve shared.
As I make my thankful list this Thursday, I will include my blog readers. I hope each of you has a day of Thankfulness and shared bread or good memories of those times when the whole family has gathered.