Little Critter: Being Thankful

BEING THANKFUL BY MERCER MAYER

Thank the Lord because he is good. His love continues forever. Psalm 107:1

Being Thankful  © 2014 by Mercer Mayer All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—el means—electronic, ectronic, mechanical, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Tommy Nelson. Tommy Nelson is a registered trademark of  Thomas Nelson. Nelson. Little Critter, Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter and Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter and Logo are trademarks of Orchard House Licensing Company. All rights reserved.  Tommy Nelson ttitles itles may be be purchased purchased in bulk bulk for educational, educational, business, business, fund-raisin fund-raising, g, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected]. Scripture quotations are taken from The International Children’s Bible ®. © 1986, 1988, 1999 by  Thomas Nelson Nelson All rights rights reserved. reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mayer, Mercer, 1943- author, illustrator. Being thankful / by Mercer Mayer. pages cm “Little Critter.” Summary: Little Critter learns how to be grateful for what he has, rather than always wishing for something better. ISBN 978-1-4003-2249-7 (softcover) [1. Gratitude--Fiction. Gratitude--Fiction. 2. Greed--Fic Greed--Fiction. tion. 3. Contentment Contentment--Fiction. --Fiction. 4. Animals--Fi Animals--Fiction.] ction.] I. Title. PZ7.M462Bei 2014 [E]--dc23 2013034163 Printed in China  14 15 16 17 18 LEO 6 5 4 3 2 1

I stopped my scooter in front of the toy store. “Wow! I wish I had a Speed Blaster ZZ scooter with silver wheels,” I said. “You already have a scooter,” said my mom. “It’s not nearly as good as the Speed Blaster ZZ,” I said.

On our way home, we passed the movie theater. “Boy, I wish I could go to the movies,” I said. “But we’re going to watch a movie at home tonight,” said my mom.

We did watch a movie on our TV T V. But it wasn’t nearly as good as going to the movie theater, even if we did have popcorn.

 The next next day at schoo school, l, Gator Gator was wearing wearing brand-new brand-new AR Flyer sneakers. I wished I had brand-new AR Flyer sneakers instead of my plain plai n old blue ones.

At home, when it was Little Sister’s turn to use the computer compu ter,, I asked when I was going to get a computer of my own. “But you have a computer,” said my mom. “Sharing isn’t as good as having your own computer,” I said.

At dinner, I said I wished we could go out to a restaurant to eat. “I like having dinner at home,” said my dad. “Don’t you wish we had a bigger house with a pool and an elevator?” I asked. “I like our house just the way it is,” said my mom.

As we were reading before bed, Dad stopped the story and said, “There are a lot of people who would love to have things like ours. You should be thankful for what you have, instead of focusing on what you don’t have.”