Another picture book I love to read every year around Thanksgiving time, besides The Thanksgiving Door and Thank You, Sarah, is the book above, Balloons Over Broadway.

This book, written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, tells the story of Tony Sarg. Tony is the creator of the big balloon puppets that grace the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade ever year. This book tells a bit about Tony’s childhood, his beginnings with puppetry, and how he got involved with making the balloons for the Thanksgiving parade. It’s just a delightful book that makes me grateful for all the creative people in the world. Tony was the intellectual “father” of Bill Baird, the guy behind the Sound of Music marionettes. Bill was a mentor of Jim Henson. So that makes Tony Jim Henson’s intellectual grandfather. It’s just interesting how people find each other to get the help they want and need to create the things they want to create, and then we all get to benefit from the beauty and wonder of their creations.

If I still had little kiddos at home I would take an afternoon or two doing a unit study with this book. I’d have fun with the activities over here and here and more. So many people have taken inspiration from this book.

Here’s a video read-aloud of the book below. If you want more picture books based on Thanksgiving, go here to my new website and scroll down to the “November” heading at the bottom third of the page. I know you’ll enjoy these books! Happy Thanksgiving!