The Thank You Book

July 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-The idea of being grateful and exploring happiness is the core of this relentlessly cute little book. A group of human children with round heads, varying skin colors, and button eyes occupy a quaint world full of equally adorable bipedal animals dressed in human clothes. From tiny birds in bowler hats and bow ties to long-necked deer in peacoats and pom-pom hats, the illustrations portray a warm, cozy, and happy world full of farmers markets, picnics, parties, and friendship. The text focuses on experiences of happiness that kids can actually relate to, and is poetic enough to evoke real feeling and understanding of the concept of gratitude for the good things in life. "Thank you isn't just for learning manners. It's also for when something wakes a little hum-a happy little hum-inside you and you want to answer back. So when the sun brings a new day, a thank you is for morning." The book also references the idea that thank you is also for when bad things improve: "It's also for when hurt or sad or not-so-good gets better." After hedgehog trips and drops his ice cream cone, cat helps him up and they share another cone. VERDICT Discussions of gratitude, happiness, and kindness are always needed, and this small book makes the medicine go down with a delicious spoonful of sugar. Perfect for one-on-one sharing.-Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2018
A picture book with a small trim about the value of expressing thanks for the little and big things in life.With poetic skill, author Ray uses lyrical language and a deeply felt sense of authenticity to spin out a story about saying "thank you." In each page, she picks out parts of the day where readers may feel "a little hum--a happy little hum...and you want to answer back." She enumerates gratitude to the morning, for "glue and glitter," to parades (where the signs read "Peace" "Love," "Kindness")--permission and encouragement to say "thank you" back is presented throughout in a delightful, nonsanctimonious way. Illustrator Graegin's friendly, warm illustrations use soft shades of natural-looking color as she interweaves circular spot illustrations featuring cozy scenes with double-page spreads evoking a larger world. The illustrations are populated with a rich variety of snuggly-looking animals dressed in clothing and children of dark to light skin and hair--humans and animals interacting with one another without any sort of hierarchy or division between them. The illustrations not only present the text's theme of saying "thank you," but also amplify it by giving the story an emphasis on diversity and equality.A delightful little book that encourages readers to connect to places, times, and one another with the simple act of saying "thank you" and whose illustrations promote equality, diversity, kindness, and gratitude for all. (Picture book. 2-8)

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