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Turkeys, Pilgrims and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols
The story of the most truly American holiday and the development of its symbols and legends. "A useful addition to holiday collections." -- School Library Journal
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 15, 2017
Thanksgiving is upon us, and the ISD library is full of picture books, indigenous folklore, illustrations of plains indians, and political history surrounding indigenous populations of the Americas. So the challenge of the ISD library is to give children “good” books to read about the subject of Thanksgiving. How do I balance a child’s pleasure in reading with my complex understanding of messages about colonization? How do I balance a child’s literacy with the promotion of accurate historical information about indigenous Americans? It’s a tricky beast for librarians to tackle.
Some of our picture books celebrate a mythologized relationship between indigenous populations and colonizing Europeans. One book that ISD has specifically set aside for the Thanksgiving season includes Turkeys, Pilgrims and Indian Corn by Edna Barth. Yes, that is the correct title. Not Indians, but rather Indian corn.
Edna Barth introduces the first Indian to reach out to the colonizers (pilgrims). His name is Samoset. Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn claims that Samoset’s first words to the pilgrims were “Welcome, Englishmen” while holding out his right hand (62).
I literally laughed out loud when I read this page. I can’t help but ask myself, who documented this first interaction? Was Samoset literate? Did he write his narrative of his first encounter with Pilgrims? Did he really feel like the pilgrims should be welcomed?
Or did one of the colonizers write this version of history down? Edna Barth, the writer of this version of American history, goes on to describe the Indians (Squanto and Hobomok) as men who “spread rumors” (64), “could set the pilgrims against the Indians” (65), in other words they were mischief makers, and had to be “paid bribes to keep ... friendly” (65). The author refers to the Indians as “sly”, “hostile”, and a “threat” and “spying”. Yet after all the bribes that Squanto had to take in order to “be friendly”, this same man, on his death decided that he’d leave all of his worldly goods to his Plymouth folks.
There seems to be an inconsistency in the telling of Squanto’s life within these pages. As an adult reader, I know which questions to ask. I’m also aware that when I was a nine year old child, I didn’t ask such questions. I simply made my pilgrim hat, or my Indian headdress, and then, (because my family is Mexican), ate some tamales. We also had turkey and stuffing too. But the point is, I never asked about the authenticity of the Thanksgiving story I was told throughout elementary school. Edna Barth's book isn't one I would use to help students have a more complete understanding of that indigenous relationship to the colonizer.
Thumbs down to this book.
Some of our picture books celebrate a mythologized relationship between indigenous populations and colonizing Europeans. One book that ISD has specifically set aside for the Thanksgiving season includes Turkeys, Pilgrims and Indian Corn by Edna Barth. Yes, that is the correct title. Not Indians, but rather Indian corn.
Edna Barth introduces the first Indian to reach out to the colonizers (pilgrims). His name is Samoset. Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn claims that Samoset’s first words to the pilgrims were “Welcome, Englishmen” while holding out his right hand (62).
I literally laughed out loud when I read this page. I can’t help but ask myself, who documented this first interaction? Was Samoset literate? Did he write his narrative of his first encounter with Pilgrims? Did he really feel like the pilgrims should be welcomed?
Or did one of the colonizers write this version of history down? Edna Barth, the writer of this version of American history, goes on to describe the Indians (Squanto and Hobomok) as men who “spread rumors” (64), “could set the pilgrims against the Indians” (65), in other words they were mischief makers, and had to be “paid bribes to keep ... friendly” (65). The author refers to the Indians as “sly”, “hostile”, and a “threat” and “spying”. Yet after all the bribes that Squanto had to take in order to “be friendly”, this same man, on his death decided that he’d leave all of his worldly goods to his Plymouth folks.
There seems to be an inconsistency in the telling of Squanto’s life within these pages. As an adult reader, I know which questions to ask. I’m also aware that when I was a nine year old child, I didn’t ask such questions. I simply made my pilgrim hat, or my Indian headdress, and then, (because my family is Mexican), ate some tamales. We also had turkey and stuffing too. But the point is, I never asked about the authenticity of the Thanksgiving story I was told throughout elementary school. Edna Barth's book isn't one I would use to help students have a more complete understanding of that indigenous relationship to the colonizer.
Thumbs down to this book.
October 9, 2011
As I was working on an assignment for a different class, I found this book. It discusses all of the "icons" of the Thanksgiving holiday and how they all came to be. The sentences are simple enough for children to understand, but there are not a lot of pictures. It is a good book for informational purposes.
October 28, 2016
Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian corn, the story of the Thanksgiving symbols by Barth_ Edna
Chapters on turkey and the new world traditions. Once the Pilgrims land they find others who will teach them how to adapt to the new world.
Indian corn is quite interesting-we have only used it for decorations.
Even a section on cranberries!
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Chapters on turkey and the new world traditions. Once the Pilgrims land they find others who will teach them how to adapt to the new world.
Indian corn is quite interesting-we have only used it for decorations.
Even a section on cranberries!
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
March 13, 2021
Too long and dry. There is so much material for Thanksgiving that a book would have to be awesome to stretch 96 pages and hold my kids attention. This book did not.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews