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
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Scripture quotations are taken from The International Children’s Bible ®. © 1986, 1988, 1999 by
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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
computer,, 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.”