THANKSGIVING IS A CATHOLIC DAY TOO. Here is the true story of who we are thanking.

Every November the table fills up, someone says 'let's say grace,' and the kids look down at their plates. They know the turkey and the parade. Most of them have never heard that the Church's own name for the Mass, the Eucharist, means thanksgiving.

This book gives them the rest of the story.

Maggie's grandma has asked her to lead grace on Thanksgiving. All week, with her little brother Ben tagging along, Maggie keeps writing a longer and fancier prayer on an index card. Night by night, her family tells her the true stories of people who thanked God long before her. By the time the turkey reaches the table, she has found out who we are really thanking, and how.

Ten true stories, one a night:

From the Bible. Jesus giving thanks over the bread at the Last Supper. The one man out of ten healed of leprosy who came back to say thank you. A boy's small lunch that fed a whole hillside.

From American history. A Mass of thanksgiving on a Florida beach in 1565, long before Plymouth. Squanto coming home. The three-day harvest gathering of 1621.

From the saints. Blessed Solanus Casey, the Detroit doorkeeper who told worried people, 'Thank God ahead of time.' Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, the sister the Potawatomi called 'Woman Who Prays Always.'

From your own parish. Thanksgiving morning Mass, the blessing of food, and at last, Maggie's turn at the table.

Inside, your family also gets:

A countdown to Thanksgiving. Start eight days before and read one chapter a night. Each story takes about five minutes to read aloud, and the last two fall on Thanksgiving Day itself.
Grace before and after meals. Both traditional prayers, with the old words explained, and a page where your child writes a grace of their own.
A family thank-you list to fill in on Thanksgiving Day, plus an idea to try and a short prayer at the end of every chapter.
Hard history, told gently. Squanto's kidnapping, the sickness that emptied his village, the Potawatomi forced from their homes. Each is named honestly, in words a child can carry. A note for parents at the back gives the fuller history, with the sources for every chapter.

For Catholic families who want Thanksgiving to start with the One who gives us everything.

Taught inside: at Mass, the bread and wine become Jesus himself, his Body and Blood (Catechism 1374-1376), and the Church gives thanks to the Father through him. The Thanksgiving food blessing is something different: a blessing on ordinary food. Mass on Thanksgiving is not required, but many parishes celebrate one.

Checkable: Father Francisco López wrote his own account of the Mass of thanksgiving he said on the Florida shore on September 8, 1565. Edward Winslow's letter of December 1621 is the only eyewitness account of the Plymouth harvest gathering.

Includes a free Catholic Thanksgiving Family Pack to print at home: grace place cards for the table, a thank-you chain for the countdown, a trivia game played with this book, six saint stories with audio to listen to together, and ten coloring pages.

The Catholic Thanksgiving Book for Kids: The True Story of Giving Thanks to God

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