Giving Thanks: Poems, Prayers, and Praise Songs of Thanksgiving

by Katherine Paterson (Editor), Pamela Dalton (Illustrator)

Overview

A beautifully illustrated collection celebrating the joy of gratitude: “A book to be picked up throughout the year and savored and discussed.” —Booklist (starred review)

Newbery Medal winner Katherine Paterson and cut-paper artist Pamela Dalton, creators of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, give fans of all ages even more to be thankful for with Giving Thanks, a special book about gratitude.

Paterson’s meditations on what it means to be truly grateful and Dalton’s exquisite cut-paper illustrations are paired with a collection of over fifty graces, poems, and praise songs from a wide range of cultures, religions, and voices. The unique collaboration between these two extraordinary artists flowers in this important and stunningly beautiful reflection on the act of giving thanks.

“A joyfulness of spirit permeates the compilation.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Amen.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452129631
Publisher:	Chronicle Books
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	994,961
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	5 - 17 Years

About the Author

Katherine Paterson is a two-time Newbery Medal winner and a two-time National Book Award winner. She lives in Barre, Vermont.Pamela Dalton is a master of scherenschnitte, the art of paper-cutting. Her artwork has enthralled collectors worldwide for more than two decades. She lives in Harlemville, New York.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/09/2013
Paterson and Dalton, who collaborated on Brother Sun, Sister Moon, return with a wide-ranging and gorgeously executed collection of poetry, prayers, and other grateful musings fit for Thanksgiving or any time of year. Paterson groups her selections into four categories—celebrating food, life, inner spirit, and community—accompanied by Dalton’s trademark scherenschnitte scissor-cut illustrations, which are tinted with coffee and painted in watercolor (delicately cut beetroots, wheat sheaths, honeycombs, and berries appear within intricate panels in the “Gather Around the Table” section, for instance). Paterson pulls from a wide range of traditional and modern sources that include traditional proverbs and blessings from around the world, excerpts from the King James Bible, poems from the likes of Whitman and Dickinson, and even speeches and songs. She also points out that reverence and a sense of humor can go together, as in a haiku from Basho (“This snowy morning/ That black crow I hate so much.../ But he’s beautiful!”). A joyfulness of spirit permeates the compilation, underscoring Paterson’s early reflection that “joy is the twin sister of gratitude.” Ages 5–up. Author’s agent: Phyllis Wender, the Gersh Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Wide-ranging and gorgeously executed. a joyfulness of spirit permeates the compilation."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Wide-ranging and gorgeously executed. a joyfulness of spirit permeates the compilation."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Wide-ranging and gorgeously executed. a joyfulness of spirit permeates the compilation."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A book to be picked up throughout the year and savored and discussed."—Booklist, starred review

"A book to be picked up throughout the year and savored and discussed."—Booklist, starred review

"A book to be picked up throughout the year and savored and discussed."—Booklist, starred review

"Suffused with and inspiring gratitude and joy. Amen."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Suffused with and inspiring gratitude and joy. Amen."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Suffused with and inspiring gratitude and joy. Amen."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"I want to hug the book's very neck for even existing. "—Julie Danielson, Kirkus Reviews

"I want to hug the book's very neck for even existing. "—Julie Danielson, Kirkus Reviews

"I want to hug the book's very neck for even existing. "—Julie Danielson, Kirkus Reviews

"Invites family sharing."—School Library Journal, starred review

"Invites family sharing."—School Library Journal, starred review

"Invites family sharing."—School Library Journal, starred review

"Ecumenical Thanksgiving miscellany - suited to readers of any age."—The New York Times

"Ecumenical Thanksgiving miscellany - suited to readers of any age."—The New York Times

"Ecumenical Thanksgiving miscellany - suited to readers of any age."—The New York Times

From the Publisher

11/01/2013
Gr 4 Up—"Prayer is nothing but the inhaling and exhaling of the one breath of the universe." Appearing in this rich compendium of poems, prayers, and speeches, these short lines attributed to Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) seem a nice summation of this collection from many traditions, authors, and centuries. Paterson opens each of the four segments with personal reflections that draw on her childhood and adult life. Her commentary and many of the sophisticated selections will be of most interest to teens and adult readers, but some content will be familiar to children. The volume invites family sharing. Bill Staine wrote that, "All God's critters got a place in the choir," and the choir here includes Inuit and other Native American voices, Islamic prayers, and such thinkers and leaders as Albert Schweitzer, Desmond Tutu and Mahatma Gandhi. The sections are organized around themes of food, nature, spirit, and community. Intricate lacy paper-cut motifs in an ivory tone frame or perch alongside text and illustrations on all pages of this slim, square volume. Set against a color background, a leafy paper-cut column, some including animals and others with humans, decorate the left edge of every spread. Small vignettes appear occasionally; the pretty scenes hint at nursery rhymes rather than the rich blend of history, cultures, and ideas that are here. Many sources are acknowledged in the closing list of permissions.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

★ 2013-10-01
A beautiful collection that manages to be both near-universal and deeply personal. Wilder Award winner Paterson offers an essay before each section: "Gather Around the Table," "A Celebration of Life," "The Spirit Within" and "Circle of Community." In each, she illuminates a small moment: the scent of an orange; watching a cicada emerge from its shell over a steamy summer hour. The words that follow come from the King James Bible and Hildegard of Bingen, from speeches ("I Have a Dream," by Martin Luther King Jr.) and from poetry (snatches from Wendell Berry and e.e. cummings), from non–Judeo-Christian traditions (the Navajo "house made of dawn") to songs (Bill Staines' delightful "All God's Critters") and spirituals ("All of God's Children Got a Song"). All of them indeed give thanks and praise. Readers can give thanks and praise for the illustrations, too: Scherenschnitte, cut-paper illustrations of extraordinary power. In borders and full pages and spot images, Dalton once again wields her scissors in pursuit of magic. From deceptively simple (a grasshopper, a bird's nest, a candle flame) to extraordinarily complex (a border of sunflowers, a plethora of vegetables), the pictures are as meditative as the words. The final page is "Blessed be" in the calligraphy of Anne Robin. Suffused with and inspiring gratitude and joy. Amen. (Picture book/poetry. 7 & up)

Kirkus Reviews