Here’s a delightful picture book about Thanksgiving that I just discovered a few years ago. It tells the story of the power of one woman, Sarah Josepha Hale, who fought to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Did you know that states in New England celebrated Thanksgiving as a holiday every year, but the erst of the United States did not?

Did you know that Thanksgiving was a day often celebrated in the late 1700s and early 1800s as a way to give thanks to God for blessings received after days of fasting and prayer were called for by government leaders?

Did you know that Sarah Josepha Hale wrote letters to U.S. Presidents for decades, pleading with them to make Thanksgiving a federal holiday? She never gave up and finally got her wish when Pres. Lincoln responded.

Not only was she a crusader, but she was a ladies’ fashion magazine editor, a mother of five, and the writer of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

You will know all these things after reading this book! Check it out from your local public library or listen to the read-aloud below. Thank you, Sarah for saving Thanksgiving for us!