Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message (Reading Rainbow Book)

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Summary: A truly wonderful book.
Review: A simple but truly beautiful and wonderful book. To read with your children every morning and express thanks to the world, promoting connectedness and deep respect of all things. Teaching our children these important words will doubtlessly take us through these rough times and make the world as beautiful and peaceful as it was intended to be.

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Summary: Perfect Way to Teach Gratitude
Review: Anyone looking to teach the concept of Gratitude to children need look no further. "Giving Thanks" is the answer. The words, culled from the Thanksgiving Address (an ancient Iroquois message of gratitude still used today) simply, directly and eloquently give a roll-call of thanks from the Earth to the Sun and everything in-between. They evoke warm, inviting, even mythic images that I believe will delight most children. A personal, friendly face is put upon the elements that are usually looked at through the cold, impersonal microscope of science. The sun, moon, thunder and lightning, and even dead ancestors are transformed into Brother Sun, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Thunder Beings and the Spirit Protectors, respectively.

The world is simply and beautifully explained not as a big, scary one, but a warm, familiar one in twenty short pages. Even children too young to read will benefit thanks to the bright, colorful painting-like artwork by Irwin Printup, Jr. Every page brilliantly shines with the face of Grandmother Moon and the haunting reassurance of the Spirit Protectors. Its a great gift for classrooms, birthdays, holidays or just to to teach this valuable virtue. Highly recommended!

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Summary: This book is AWESOME!
Review: I was blown away by this book and was proud to add it to my bookshelf. I am glad that publishers are letting REAL Native American writers and artists tell our own stories our own way. The Thanksgiving Address is a central component of Mohawk culture and I was proud to see this in the hands of my children. This and SKYWOMAN by Joanne Shenandoah, Douglas George, John Fadden and Dave Fadden have set a new standard in the publishing of Native American culture and art. Now, if only some publisher would accept the challenge to do the same with Native American history...(hint hint!)