Come Thursday, many of us will don our cozy sweaters and sit down with family and friends to feast on roast turkey with wild rice stuffing, mushroom gravy, creamy mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes or yams, green bean casserole, and soft, fluffy dinner rolls (lots of butter, please!).

As we express gratitude for our bountiful meals, we should particularly remember the people who helped bring the food to the table. Thank a Farmer by Maria Gianferrari and Monica Mikai (Norton Young Readers, 2023) introduces us to about a dozen different types of farming, essential farm workers, and methods of planting and harvesting on commercial as well as family farms.

The book opens with a dedication page depicting a variety of colorful dishes with the words, “If you like the food on your table, THANK A FARMER.” Continuing with variations on this tagline, double page spreads feature familiar foods such as bread, milk, fruits, veggies, peanuts, rice, mushrooms, and maple syrup, in addition to one non-edible item, wool.

Gianferrari’s lyrical text is rhythmic and succinct, as dynamic and efficient as the processes described. Paired with Mikai’s warm and inviting illustrations, it’s easy for kids to connect what they eat every day with where it actually comes from — not a can, box, or supermarket shelf, but a farm, where real people work the land with their hands or specialized machinery.

First there’s breakfast, a girl eating bread while wheat is being harvested from combine to hopper, then into grain cart and storage elevator for milling and grinding into flour.