NPR

How to talk to little kids about Thanksgiving, explained by a Native American children's author

There are various approaches to take the conversation at different ages. And books can be a helpful resource.
Traci Sorell with a class of third graders at the Cherokee Nation Immersion School on the tribe's reservation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The school is a Cherokee language immersion school for K-6th grade students. (Courtesy)

Traci Sorell thinks now is as good a time as any to reframe how we talk with young children about Thanksgiving.

She wrote the children’s book “We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga” and a citIzen of the Cherokee nation.

Being a children’s book author — and a Native American woman — who writes about gratitude, this is a busy time of year for her going out to schools to talk with groups of children

Interview Highlights

On what Americans get generally right and wrong 

“Certainly people are thinking about abundance, sharing meals with family, celebrating time together and being grateful for those things. And I think that comes through in many people’s thoughts around the holiday.

“What is less

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