Oge Mora has beautifully woven the themes of kindness, friendship, caring and generosity into the gorgeously illustrated, Thank You, Omu!
Mrs. Unger’s twenty-two, first graders truly enjoyed this heartwarming narrative, predicting who’d arrive at the door and how Omu would react upon finding nothing in left in her pot. The read aloud seamlessly shifted to a shared reading with students joyfully chiming in reading the repetitive phrases.
The collage illustrations, reminiscent of Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day and Whistle for Willie, are works of art. They are simply beautiful, representing an array of characters to whom all the children could easily relate.
The kids were so excited with the ending, they could hardly contain themselves.
This book reminds us that Thanksgiving is not a just holiday in November, it’s a way of living every day! It’s a great choice for a non-traditional Thanksgiving read aloud or a gift for a child’s birthday or holiday. You might even choose to share a copy with a teacher or friend who, like Omu, gives so much every day.
Books like this remind me that I used to spend far too little time considering the diversity of the characters, settings, and authors of the books I chose to share with students.
I wish I could go back in time to read books like Thank You, Omu! to the students in my classroom years ago so they, too, could see themselves in the characters and authors of great books and rejoice in knowing they’re “just like me!”
