Friends are the best gifts - And a review of Bear Gives Thanks

On Saturday afternoon a few much loved friends came over for high tea. Everybody brought delicious things to eat, and we sat in front of the fire with full plates and glasses of bubbly, celebrating being together again after a long hiatus. As always there was much laughter, and I cannot tell you how incredibly happy it made me to see those smiling faces. I was reminded, yet again, that my friends are so dear to me and their presence in my life is a gift. 

   Today I bring you a story about another group of friends who gather, who bring treats to share, and who give thanks for the ties of friendship that connect them. 

Bear Says Thanks 

Karma Wilson

Illustrated by Jane Chapman 

Picture Book

For ages 3 to 6

Simon and Schuster, 2012, 978-1416958567

It is a cold and windy day, and Bear is bored and missing his friends. Then Bear comes up with an idea; he will put together a feast that he can share with his friends. This is a splendid plan, but there is a rather big problem; Bear’s food cupboard is empty. How can Bear host a feast if he has no food?

   Thankfully for Bear, his friends are generous creatures and they come to Bear’s lair in ones, twos, and threes bringing all kinds of delicious things to eat. Bear thanks Mouse for his pie, Hare for his muffins, and Badger for the fish that he has brought. He also thanks Gopher, Mole, Owl, Raven, and Wren for their contributions. Poor Bear is grateful for the things his friends have brought to his home, and he feels terrible because he has nothing to share with them.

   The story in this wonderful picture book explores the idea that friendship is one of the greatest gifts we can give to others. Children will see that true friends, and the times we share with them, are precious.

   This is one of the titles in a collection of books featuring Bear and his friends.

   

A time to reflect, and a review of Thankful by Elaine Vickers and Samantha Cotterill

 

This morning we got our first real snow of the season, and just by chance this book found its way onto my desk. How appropriate it is that a title about thankfulness should appear at a this particular moment, for these are the days when many of us take the time to rest, and to consider the old year that is fading and the new year that is coming. I bring the people I love into my home and together we celebrate, and give thanks, for the things that truly matter, just as the little girl in this book does. 

Thankful 

Elaine Vickers

Illustrated by Samantha Cotterill

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Simon and Schuster, 2021, 978-1-5344-7734-6

Every year a little girl and her family start making “thankful chains” on the day when the first snow starts to fall. On strips of colored paper they write down what they are thankful for, and then they create a paper chain using the pieces of paper. 

   The little girl starts with the things that she is thankful for that are found in her home. She has parents who love her, and who show their love with every story that they read to her; with every gentle stroke as they brush her hair; and with the poem, full of good wishes, that they share with her every night at bedtime. One of those wishes has come true and now the little girl can be thankful for the little dog who “jumps when I am happy and comforts when I am scared.”

   The little girl goes on to give thanks for big things like “a heart that beats” and “every breath,” and the colors that makes her world so beautiful and exciting. Then we hear about the wonderful things that are warm and give comfort, for things that are cold, for things that are soft, and for things that are hard. 

   Onto the little strips of paper all these words of thanks go, with one sentence of thanks leading to a memory that brings forth another. 

   Many of us forget that we have a great deal to be thankful for. We are in so much of a hurry to move on to what comes next, that we don’t take the time to stop and look at, and to remember, all the gifts that we already have. It is only when we take this time to reflect that we realize that we have so many beautiful, special, and enriching things in our lives. 

   On the pages of this picture book, readers will find a lyrical text that summons up memories as it is read; as the little girl remembers her thankful things, we remember ours. These lines are paired with photos that combine dioramas and drawings in a unique and emotive way. 

   This is book that will encourage children and their grownups to pause and find gratitude, and readers might even decide to bring chains of thankfulness into their homes.