The Secret of Saying Thanks

Reviewed: April 16, 2008
By: Douglas Wood / art by Greg Shed
Publisher: Simon and Shuster
32 pages, $23.50

This book is a little sermon in itself, and yet it’s not really preachy. Wood and Shed have illustrated a neat little truth for young readers, but it’s one that most adults would do well to remember.

Shed’s atmospheric double-page spreads accompany Wood’s spare text as we are guiding through a list of things we ought remember to be thankful for. The only drawback to the presentation is that it’s pretty much all rural and will seem a little strange to urbanites.

One of the two tricks at the end of the meditation is this:

“We don’t give thanks because we’re happy.

We’re happy because we give thanks.”

Who could disagree with that?

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