What do you think?
Rate this book
The First Thanksgiving
The Pilgrims called the celebration the Harvest Feast. The Pawtuxet Indians thought of it as the Green Corn Dance. But the first Thanksgiving was much more than that.
Join Newbery Medalist Jean Craighead George and beloved illustrator Thomas Locker as they trace the passage of time from the melting of the glaciers that created Cape Cod and Plymouth Rock, to the moment the Pawtuxet Indians and the Pilgrims met and feasted on the bounty of the New World.
From the simple text to the lush illustrations, the story of a harvest feast turned beloved tradition will captivate readers young and old.
“Correcting misconceptions and clarifying contemporary attitudes, this beautiful book brings fresh insight and a fairer balance to the traditional story.”— Kirkus Reviews
Join Newbery Medalist Jean Craighead George and beloved illustrator Thomas Locker as they trace the passage of time from the melting of the glaciers that created Cape Cod and Plymouth Rock, to the moment the Pawtuxet Indians and the Pilgrims met and feasted on the bounty of the New World.
From the simple text to the lush illustrations, the story of a harvest feast turned beloved tradition will captivate readers young and old.
“Correcting misconceptions and clarifying contemporary attitudes, this beautiful book brings fresh insight and a fairer balance to the traditional story.”— Kirkus Reviews
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
180 people want to read
About the author
Jean Craighead George
204 books1,528 followersJean Craighead George wrote over eighty popular books for young adults, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and the Newbery Honor book My Side of the Mountain. Most of her books deal with topics related to the environment and the natural world. While she mostly wrote children's fiction, she also wrote at least two guides to cooking with wild foods, and an autobiography, Journey Inward.
The mother of three children, (Twig C. George, Craig, and T. Luke George) Jean George was a grandmother who joyfully read to her grandchildren since the time they were born. Over the years Jean George kept one hundred and seventy-three pets, not including dogs and cats, in her home in Chappaqua, New York. "Most of these wild animals depart in autumn when the sun changes their behaviour and they feel the urge to migrate or go off alone. While they are with us, however, they become characters in my books, articles, and stories."
The mother of three children, (Twig C. George, Craig, and T. Luke George) Jean George was a grandmother who joyfully read to her grandchildren since the time they were born. Over the years Jean George kept one hundred and seventy-three pets, not including dogs and cats, in her home in Chappaqua, New York. "Most of these wild animals depart in autumn when the sun changes their behaviour and they feel the urge to migrate or go off alone. While they are with us, however, they become characters in my books, articles, and stories."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
November 21, 2012
Overall the book was well written and the illustrations are simply beautiful. At the same time, I also think that the book did get a little disjointed. The rush through of Plymouth Rock, for example, and the hasty tie in at the end was a little confusing and didn't seem to belong. The history of Squanto seems only mostly accurate from other books I've read on the subject. This was thrown into it in a hasty way too. It seemed a little confusing and glossed over. Otherwise the book was beautiful including a lot of facts, some of which I've had verified in other books. Others I've found contradictory information (such as it being believed that turkey was not actually eaten at the first Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims weren't able to hunt because their guns scared off the wildlife). I would say this is a good book for discovering the concepts, but I wouldn't take it as solid fact. It's always worth checking other resources that are a little more accurate.
The one big concern I have with this book is it comes across as being for the level of preschool children. My five-year-old found the book to long, boring, and dry, but my nine-year-old enjoys it. However, there are much better books for her age group. This makes it a challenge to place this book on where it should belong on reading level.
If you're looking for a great introduction to reading about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims, this is definitely a good start. This could be a fun book to read if you're looking to compare the facts with the facts from other books. Otherwise, I'd say it's not bad if you've got it on hand, but there are better books on the subject.
The one big concern I have with this book is it comes across as being for the level of preschool children. My five-year-old found the book to long, boring, and dry, but my nine-year-old enjoys it. However, there are much better books for her age group. This makes it a challenge to place this book on where it should belong on reading level.
If you're looking for a great introduction to reading about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims, this is definitely a good start. This could be a fun book to read if you're looking to compare the facts with the facts from other books. Otherwise, I'd say it's not bad if you've got it on hand, but there are better books on the subject.
October 18, 2015
I chose this book at the library because I was impressed with Thomas Locker's oil paintings which illustrate it. It seems like a more complete and maybe more realistic telling of the history of Thanksgiving than some of the other books we have been looking at. The text is a bit long for a five year old, but one could spread out the reading over two nights. But 7 - 9 year old may be a better target audience for this book. The book is nicely tied together with a depiction of Plymouth Rock.
November 25, 2016
It was apparent on the first page this was not suited for children. It read like a geography book for much older kids, not young kids with picture books. It was chock-full of information. It went on and on about glaciers and gravel in ice and it being dumped on the New England coast. And Cape Cod being in the shape of a flexed arm. Then, if that wasn’t enough, the glacier deposited boulders on top of the gravel that it had picked up from other places. One such boulder landed in Plymouth Harbor, that is called a Dedham granite. Come on, this is too much for kids! It left Africa 200 million yrs ago, at a time when the continents were being formed. Then eons later, after being hit by glaciers, the 200 ton rock came to land here. At least I finally found out what Plymouth Rock was. A lot of other books mentioned Plymouth Rock and I had absolutely no idea what it was, so at least this book explained it. The sea looked like an old Renaissance painting, dark and depressing.
This was certainly geared towards geography and the shaping of the landscape, went way beyond the First Thanksgiving, and started when the land was just being made. Trees and plants and flowers all grew and died which created loam, kids won’t know what that is, which created the forest. It’s cool the Pawtuxets were called the People of the Dawn, a tribe of Wampanoag. I had never heard that Englishman had ships with butterfly wings, I think that needed an explanation for kids who might believe the ship really had big butterfly wings, instead of sails. It was interesting to learn that they captured Wampanoag men as slaves because that’s a part of history I’ve never read in a children’s book before.
The men came to trade pots and beads for fish and furs, and tricked Indian men into coming on board the ship, then sailed off to Spain with them and made them slaves. I had seen that in a TV special about Squanto. In 1619 when Squanto finally returned home, the wetus, their homes, were empty and his entire tribe was dead.
I had no idea the Puritans first went to Holland to live, once King James I ordered everyone to join the Church of England or be punished. Some were arrested, imprisoned or hanged. After 12 years in Holland they then decided to go to the New World. Their trip was financed by merchant-adventurers.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that every single Thanksgiving book I read is different from the other! It’s just amazing how the facts contradict each other. In here supposedly 102 men, women and children along with furniture, chickens, pigs, dogs and 9 cats were present on the Mayflower. I’ve heard so many different numbers, I don’t know what to believe. I think authors should stop quoting exact numbers because they’re probably all wrong.
It was neat how Squanto taught them to plant beans beside so the corn so they could climb the corn talks, and planted pumpkins and squash between the rows of corn, to maximize the space. Squanto gave them the seeds that his ancestors had brought from Mexico and Peru.
My favorite pages were of the sea at night with a full moon shining on the water, and the page in the woods with the pink and purple sky reflecting on the river and the deer by the riverside. I liked that Squanto taught that the land doesn’t belong to people, that people belong to the land.
The picture of the ocean with the Pilgrims in the canoe was pretty. The ocean was multi-colored with white-capped waves and the sky was cloudy with a little blue peeking out that was so pretty. I really liked the picture of the women on top of the hill with these big pumpkins and woven baskets. There was a hill of golden wheat and the town inside the walls and the beautiful blue sea. There was a small stream of light blue-colored water running into the ocean. The colors were so deep and pretty.
The people would have benefited from more detail. They were featureless so it was odd looking at people with no eyes and noses, just a blob for a face.
He took the boys out in his canoe to set lobster pots made of reeds and sinew and showed them animals living in tidal pools.
I never knew the Pilgrims buried their dead at night, and didn't mark the graves, so Indians wouldn't know how many people were left alive.
I liked the last page, but it was so saddening to learn that Plymouth Rock isn’t even there anymore. What stupid people demolished the rock and made it into something else? What a desecration of history.
“Neither the Pilgrims nor the Indians knew what they had begun. The Pilgrims called the celebration a Harvest Feast. The Indians thought of it as a Green Corn Dance. It was both and more than both. It was the first Thanksgiving.
In the years that followed, President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation, and President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November a holiday of “thanksgiving and praise.” Today it is still a harvest festival and Green Corn Dance. Families feast with friends, give thanks and play games.
Plymouth Rock did not fare as well. It has been cut in half, moved twice, dropped, split and trimmed to fit its present-day portico. It is a mere memento of its once magnificent self.
Yet to Americans, Plymouth Rock is a symbol. It is large than the mountains, wider than the prairies and stronger than all our rivers.
It is the rock on which our nation began.”
A nice ending to hit home the importance of the first Europeans and Indians in starting this tradition. This book has a lot of information about the beginnings of this area and the Indians that existed there first, so it’s a good read if you want the history of the holiday and the people that attended it. It’s definitely a learning experience. The illustrations were realistic and pretty, but the cover was misleading because that scene wasn’t even in the book and the illustrations inside looked nothing like that. There is a lot of information that would go right over kids’ heads, so it would be suited for older kids. Words like tumultuous, iridescent and congregated were used, so young kids wouldn’t be able to grasp or pronounce those. The text is certainly not simple as it's said to be on the back of the book. Kids wouldn’t know anything about glaciers or icebergs and continents forming so that probably could have been left out. I didn't start learning about things like that until 5th grade, so this book would be better for 5th graders or older kids. The information was listed in a way that didn't really make sense; there wasn't a whole lot of flow and it was kind of jumbled information that didn't go together. The last page about Plymouth Rock was random, and the information about Squanto was shared in a way that assumed readers already knew about Thanksgiving.
This was certainly geared towards geography and the shaping of the landscape, went way beyond the First Thanksgiving, and started when the land was just being made. Trees and plants and flowers all grew and died which created loam, kids won’t know what that is, which created the forest. It’s cool the Pawtuxets were called the People of the Dawn, a tribe of Wampanoag. I had never heard that Englishman had ships with butterfly wings, I think that needed an explanation for kids who might believe the ship really had big butterfly wings, instead of sails. It was interesting to learn that they captured Wampanoag men as slaves because that’s a part of history I’ve never read in a children’s book before.
The men came to trade pots and beads for fish and furs, and tricked Indian men into coming on board the ship, then sailed off to Spain with them and made them slaves. I had seen that in a TV special about Squanto. In 1619 when Squanto finally returned home, the wetus, their homes, were empty and his entire tribe was dead.
I had no idea the Puritans first went to Holland to live, once King James I ordered everyone to join the Church of England or be punished. Some were arrested, imprisoned or hanged. After 12 years in Holland they then decided to go to the New World. Their trip was financed by merchant-adventurers.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that every single Thanksgiving book I read is different from the other! It’s just amazing how the facts contradict each other. In here supposedly 102 men, women and children along with furniture, chickens, pigs, dogs and 9 cats were present on the Mayflower. I’ve heard so many different numbers, I don’t know what to believe. I think authors should stop quoting exact numbers because they’re probably all wrong.
It was neat how Squanto taught them to plant beans beside so the corn so they could climb the corn talks, and planted pumpkins and squash between the rows of corn, to maximize the space. Squanto gave them the seeds that his ancestors had brought from Mexico and Peru.
My favorite pages were of the sea at night with a full moon shining on the water, and the page in the woods with the pink and purple sky reflecting on the river and the deer by the riverside. I liked that Squanto taught that the land doesn’t belong to people, that people belong to the land.
The picture of the ocean with the Pilgrims in the canoe was pretty. The ocean was multi-colored with white-capped waves and the sky was cloudy with a little blue peeking out that was so pretty. I really liked the picture of the women on top of the hill with these big pumpkins and woven baskets. There was a hill of golden wheat and the town inside the walls and the beautiful blue sea. There was a small stream of light blue-colored water running into the ocean. The colors were so deep and pretty.
The people would have benefited from more detail. They were featureless so it was odd looking at people with no eyes and noses, just a blob for a face.
He took the boys out in his canoe to set lobster pots made of reeds and sinew and showed them animals living in tidal pools.
I never knew the Pilgrims buried their dead at night, and didn't mark the graves, so Indians wouldn't know how many people were left alive.
I liked the last page, but it was so saddening to learn that Plymouth Rock isn’t even there anymore. What stupid people demolished the rock and made it into something else? What a desecration of history.
“Neither the Pilgrims nor the Indians knew what they had begun. The Pilgrims called the celebration a Harvest Feast. The Indians thought of it as a Green Corn Dance. It was both and more than both. It was the first Thanksgiving.
In the years that followed, President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation, and President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November a holiday of “thanksgiving and praise.” Today it is still a harvest festival and Green Corn Dance. Families feast with friends, give thanks and play games.
Plymouth Rock did not fare as well. It has been cut in half, moved twice, dropped, split and trimmed to fit its present-day portico. It is a mere memento of its once magnificent self.
Yet to Americans, Plymouth Rock is a symbol. It is large than the mountains, wider than the prairies and stronger than all our rivers.
It is the rock on which our nation began.”
A nice ending to hit home the importance of the first Europeans and Indians in starting this tradition. This book has a lot of information about the beginnings of this area and the Indians that existed there first, so it’s a good read if you want the history of the holiday and the people that attended it. It’s definitely a learning experience. The illustrations were realistic and pretty, but the cover was misleading because that scene wasn’t even in the book and the illustrations inside looked nothing like that. There is a lot of information that would go right over kids’ heads, so it would be suited for older kids. Words like tumultuous, iridescent and congregated were used, so young kids wouldn’t be able to grasp or pronounce those. The text is certainly not simple as it's said to be on the back of the book. Kids wouldn’t know anything about glaciers or icebergs and continents forming so that probably could have been left out. I didn't start learning about things like that until 5th grade, so this book would be better for 5th graders or older kids. The information was listed in a way that didn't really make sense; there wasn't a whole lot of flow and it was kind of jumbled information that didn't go together. The last page about Plymouth Rock was random, and the information about Squanto was shared in a way that assumed readers already knew about Thanksgiving.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2016
At first I didn't know if I'd like this. It looked depressing& heavy based on the cover.
When I cracked it open the other day, the drawings looked like ones you'd see from the 1800s, so I thought it would turn out good.
I wanted to save this for today, because the drawings looked good.
I meant to read this around supper time, or after watching Last of the Mohicans, but we paused and rewound so many times, it ended up taking us around 4 hours to watch! Wanting to read this the day before Thanksgiving, I had to kind of rush through last night to get it done.
Whoa! This is so heavy. If I'm an adult and it feels over my head, how would a kid feel reading this?!
'Into the forest came bear, deer, brightly colored birds, and the Pawtuxets, a tribe of the Wampanoag, The People of the Dawn.' I like that sentence. Nvr heard them called people of the dawn.
It's cool to learn they have thanks to Mother Earth each year at the Green Corn Dance.
'These men sailed in ships with butterfly wings.' You mean sails?
That's awful that they traded with them for furs and fish and then tricked 17 men onto their ship.
I'm surprised they're including this. This is the first book I've read so far with a true account.
After he found his tribe dead, he got back on the ship and was dropped off along Maine, where he joined Massasoit.
Ppl were being arrested in England, so they escaped to Holland, where they stayed for 12 years. Whoa!
They brought weapons to fight the "savages."
I wouldn't use the word cock for rooster. Instead of saying cocks and hens, just say chickens!
At 7:00 on nov 9th they spotted cape cod. They decided to stay there instead of the Hudson River.
They mentioned Town Creek. Reminded me of NC!
They know how many died each night.
They buried their dead at night and didn't mark the graves.
The moon page is pretty. Looks real.
'Returned to their dank homes.' Didn't sound good.
Military men were shot at. Nobody mentioned that!
Amazing no one wanted to return to England.
Samoset was 'very handsome.'
They made the peace treaty right then and there that Lasted more than 50 years.
Massosoit went back to Rhode Island.
'Squanto shared with the pilgrims the seeds that the descendants of his ancient ancestors had brought to New England from lands as far away as Mexico and Peru.' Nvr heard that!!
The eel looked funny that he was holding up.
Saw in another book, too. How Squanto planted beans beside corn so they could climb the stalks.
The page with the deer were pretty.
'Jeresulem artichoke.' Never heard of that before!
Amazing everything he's teaching them. So in tune with nature.
Leyden street was where they had the feast, the only street there.
'This was not a day of pilgrim thanksgiving, which was every Thursday from dawn to dusk.' Nvr heard that.
The waves are pretty.& the pumpkins.
I'm surprised it said it was the first thanksgiving, considering they included facts in here I haven't heard.
Plymouth Rock was cut in half, moved twice, dropped, split and trimmed. Wtf is wrong with ppl??
Plymouth Rock is a symbol of how our nation began. That’s not really something to spark pride in us, considering how it turned out.
When I was getting quotes for this book, I noticed Squanto's tribe was spelled 'Pawtuxet.' I've seen it spelled Patuxet everywhere else.
When I cracked it open the other day, the drawings looked like ones you'd see from the 1800s, so I thought it would turn out good.
I wanted to save this for today, because the drawings looked good.
I meant to read this around supper time, or after watching Last of the Mohicans, but we paused and rewound so many times, it ended up taking us around 4 hours to watch! Wanting to read this the day before Thanksgiving, I had to kind of rush through last night to get it done.
Whoa! This is so heavy. If I'm an adult and it feels over my head, how would a kid feel reading this?!
'Into the forest came bear, deer, brightly colored birds, and the Pawtuxets, a tribe of the Wampanoag, The People of the Dawn.' I like that sentence. Nvr heard them called people of the dawn.
It's cool to learn they have thanks to Mother Earth each year at the Green Corn Dance.
'These men sailed in ships with butterfly wings.' You mean sails?
That's awful that they traded with them for furs and fish and then tricked 17 men onto their ship.
I'm surprised they're including this. This is the first book I've read so far with a true account.
After he found his tribe dead, he got back on the ship and was dropped off along Maine, where he joined Massasoit.
Ppl were being arrested in England, so they escaped to Holland, where they stayed for 12 years. Whoa!
They brought weapons to fight the "savages."
I wouldn't use the word cock for rooster. Instead of saying cocks and hens, just say chickens!
At 7:00 on nov 9th they spotted cape cod. They decided to stay there instead of the Hudson River.
They mentioned Town Creek. Reminded me of NC!
They know how many died each night.
They buried their dead at night and didn't mark the graves.
The moon page is pretty. Looks real.
'Returned to their dank homes.' Didn't sound good.
Military men were shot at. Nobody mentioned that!
Amazing no one wanted to return to England.
Samoset was 'very handsome.'
They made the peace treaty right then and there that Lasted more than 50 years.
Massosoit went back to Rhode Island.
'Squanto shared with the pilgrims the seeds that the descendants of his ancient ancestors had brought to New England from lands as far away as Mexico and Peru.' Nvr heard that!!
The eel looked funny that he was holding up.
Saw in another book, too. How Squanto planted beans beside corn so they could climb the stalks.
The page with the deer were pretty.
'Jeresulem artichoke.' Never heard of that before!
Amazing everything he's teaching them. So in tune with nature.
Leyden street was where they had the feast, the only street there.
'This was not a day of pilgrim thanksgiving, which was every Thursday from dawn to dusk.' Nvr heard that.
The waves are pretty.& the pumpkins.
I'm surprised it said it was the first thanksgiving, considering they included facts in here I haven't heard.
Plymouth Rock was cut in half, moved twice, dropped, split and trimmed. Wtf is wrong with ppl??
Plymouth Rock is a symbol of how our nation began. That’s not really something to spark pride in us, considering how it turned out.
When I was getting quotes for this book, I noticed Squanto's tribe was spelled 'Pawtuxet.' I've seen it spelled Patuxet everywhere else.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2014
The first thing that caught my eye with this book are the beautiful illustrations. The illustrator, Thomas Locker, surely did a wonderful job creating a realistic approach. However, as you start to read this book, you quickly realize it is not age appropriate for younger children. I would recommend this book for 4th-6th graders. The story is quite long and the vocabulary is not on a younger student's level.
I found this story to be a bit choppy. The story begins with a little history on the Plymouth Rock. Then moves on to Squanto, then to the pilgrims, then to Squanto again, etc. I didn't get a good flow with this story, which makes it difficult to use in a classroom. I feel students may get a bit lost, especially if they don't understand the history behind it.
I'm not sure if I would actually use this book in my classroom. I chose it as a historical fiction book, because I'm not entirely sure it is 100% factual. I have read stories on Squanto and the pilgrims before, and while this story matches up to some of what I've previously learned, I don't feel it tells the whole truth. I feel there is a lot of sadness left out. So, if I were to include this story in a lesson plan for older students of mine, I may have them do some research to see what facts were left out of the story. Students should know the truth behind Thanksgiving.
I found this story to be a bit choppy. The story begins with a little history on the Plymouth Rock. Then moves on to Squanto, then to the pilgrims, then to Squanto again, etc. I didn't get a good flow with this story, which makes it difficult to use in a classroom. I feel students may get a bit lost, especially if they don't understand the history behind it.
I'm not sure if I would actually use this book in my classroom. I chose it as a historical fiction book, because I'm not entirely sure it is 100% factual. I have read stories on Squanto and the pilgrims before, and while this story matches up to some of what I've previously learned, I don't feel it tells the whole truth. I feel there is a lot of sadness left out. So, if I were to include this story in a lesson plan for older students of mine, I may have them do some research to see what facts were left out of the story. Students should know the truth behind Thanksgiving.
November 4, 2022
It was fine, nothing really noteworthy to mention.
Ages: 6 - 11
Cleanliness: mentions millions of years ago and the formation of Plymouth Rock.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
Ages: 6 - 11
Cleanliness: mentions millions of years ago and the formation of Plymouth Rock.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
April 8, 2014
This book tells the story of the very first Thanksgiving. It incorporates information about Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrim’s journey and arrival in America, how they struggled, and their friendship with Squanto. I felt like it covered a lot and contained a lot of useful information for a children’s book. I would use this book to teach my students about the First Thanksgiving. It is also a great way to introduce young students to Thanksgiving beliefs and traditions.
November 20, 2012
The is a great book to teach children about Thanksgiving. It starts with were the Plymoth Rock came from. It also teaches about Squanto and the Pilgrims. I find it a wonderful way to teach Elementary school age students about the first Thanksgiving.
November 15, 2019
Can you give a book zero stars?
This is a terrible book to teach children about "the first Thanksgiving." From blatant misinformation ("The new Governor, William Bradford, asked Squanto to invite Massasoit and a few friends to a feast.") to an overtly romanticized view of a contentious and bloody past ("This was not a day of Pilgrim thanksgiving...This was pure celebration."), George distorts the truth. Why? Who knows.
There are far better resources out there. See Slapin and Seale's two anthologies: Through Indian Eyes and A Broken Flute.
Also, read Grace and Bruhac's 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
It is beyond time that we give our children accurate representations of our history, and not a whitewashed, nationalistic feel-good dream.
This is a terrible book to teach children about "the first Thanksgiving." From blatant misinformation ("The new Governor, William Bradford, asked Squanto to invite Massasoit and a few friends to a feast.") to an overtly romanticized view of a contentious and bloody past ("This was not a day of Pilgrim thanksgiving...This was pure celebration."), George distorts the truth. Why? Who knows.
There are far better resources out there. See Slapin and Seale's two anthologies: Through Indian Eyes and A Broken Flute.
Also, read Grace and Bruhac's 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
It is beyond time that we give our children accurate representations of our history, and not a whitewashed, nationalistic feel-good dream.
November 3, 2018
Copyright 1993. This is for elementary school age. The book is very wordy, so younger kids will probably be bored. Beautiful illustrations!
October 25, 2018
Great for older elementary school. Historical context. Accurate as far as I could determine.
November 30, 2015
In honor of the holiday, I often try to borrow Thanksgiving-themed books we haven't read yet. And with the Picture Book club discussing them as well in their November 2015 - Thanksgiving discussion, we've discovered several that were new to us this year.
At the risk of being redundant, we have begun to dissect the books, looking for differences in the information provided and innacuracies in the illustrations. For the most part, we found this account to be as closely factual to the history as we've learned it as any.
Some of the Pilgrim's clothing looks to be a bit too much like the archetypal black and white costuming that we hear is not all that accurate, but I am impressed that the illustrator also included colorful garments as well. Thomas Locker's lush landscapes are a highlight of the book.
Overall, it's a fairly fast read and informative without being boring. We've really enjoyed reading books by Jean Craighead George and this story was no exception.
At the risk of being redundant, we have begun to dissect the books, looking for differences in the information provided and innacuracies in the illustrations. For the most part, we found this account to be as closely factual to the history as we've learned it as any.
Some of the Pilgrim's clothing looks to be a bit too much like the archetypal black and white costuming that we hear is not all that accurate, but I am impressed that the illustrator also included colorful garments as well. Thomas Locker's lush landscapes are a highlight of the book.
Overall, it's a fairly fast read and informative without being boring. We've really enjoyed reading books by Jean Craighead George and this story was no exception.
November 11, 2016
A great review of the first Harvest Feast/Green Corn Dance/Thanksgiving for 7-11 year-olds and their parents. The text is detailed, but I love that about Jean Craighead George.
The story began by telling briefly of her perspective of the progress of continents splitting, loam and forests forming, animals populating the land and the first people on the American shores living life until white men came.
Squanto's history is also retold and that was perhaps my favorite part. His story as well as his kindness towards these pilgrims who refused to join a religion they did not believe in and sought refuge first in Holland and then set sail on the Mayflower in September.
There were several parts of the story where I was in tears thinking of what has happened since that celebration, both good and horrific. But the end was filled with hope. And the story has much to teach about the hope which is possible when we lay down our fears and labels and "gather together to ask the Lord's blessing."
I want this one in my home library.
The story began by telling briefly of her perspective of the progress of continents splitting, loam and forests forming, animals populating the land and the first people on the American shores living life until white men came.
Squanto's history is also retold and that was perhaps my favorite part. His story as well as his kindness towards these pilgrims who refused to join a religion they did not believe in and sought refuge first in Holland and then set sail on the Mayflower in September.
There were several parts of the story where I was in tears thinking of what has happened since that celebration, both good and horrific. But the end was filled with hope. And the story has much to teach about the hope which is possible when we lay down our fears and labels and "gather together to ask the Lord's blessing."
I want this one in my home library.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2014
This book is a story about the first Thanksgiving, after the Pilgrims had arrived on Plymouth Rock and had survived long enough for the first harvest. It demonstrates how they survived, with the help of an Indian named Samoset. I thought that this book was a little boring for elementary school students. Although it is informative, there are so many words per page that it is kind of a hassle to read. If they are reading a picture book, the illustrations should benefit the text and add too it. Reading through this book, it felt as if the illustrations were just an after thought. And more that the story had been written but something was missing originally. I think this story also focused a lot on the journey to America, rather than on the first Thanksgiving itself, so it was not quite what I was expecting when I opened it.
December 4, 2007
This is a nice book but it is definitely for the older students. I enjoyed reading it because it has a lot of accurate, historical, facts in it but it is a little text heavy for the younger students. It does a great job of accurately retelling the story of the first Thanksgiving and it has nice illustrations. Older kids would like it because it does have a more mature content level. It would be good to read during a history unit on the origin of Thanksgiving or just a good book to read during November.
October 27, 2009
This beautifully illustrated picture book begins with a description of Plymouth Rock before the Pilgrims came, the setting where the Patuxet tribe lived. The difficult journey of the Pilgrims to America and their hardships are described in detail. With the aid of their Native American friends, the story of how the Pilgrims overcame the challenges of the New World is told. The book ends with the celebration of Thanksgiving, and a note of the symbolic value of Plymouth Rock. This would be an excellent read aloud choice to begin a Thanksgiving unit.
November 26, 2011
This is one of my FAVORITE Thanksgiving stories! Love how the story begins with how plymouth rock and how it traveled to it's place via glacier. Lots of depth and breadth for a children's book--which makes it a little on the long side. My only criticism is that the first Indian mentioned by name in the book is Squanto. Lots of other versions of the first Thanksgiving say the first Indian the pilgrims met was Samoset; later they met Squanto who spoke better English. It makes it a little confusing when you're reading a couple of different books about the first Thanksgiving.
December 7, 2008
This is a heavy read for preschoolers and kindergarteners. There are great illustrations though and we enjoyed looking at the pictures. I would read some of the text and summarize alot of it for our 3-year-old. It has great factual information about Plymouth Rock and goes back all of the way to discuss how glaciers left Plymouth Rock where it stands today. It has factually correct information about the first Thanksgiving.
October 22, 2015
I put this book on my future-to -teach shelf first because it contents, telling us very important Christian festival-Thanksgiving with detailed and kids-should-know history information. I like the way this story develops, using the third person to tell the historical incidents which strengthens the authenticity of history. I am also impressed by the illustrations which use the oil paintings making the visual images very real and tend to more gain kids' attention.
June 29, 2008
This book would be good for 1st-4th grade. It talks about how Indians first got here and then how the pilgrims came to America. The writing is very descriptive and really tells the story in an entertaining way. It makes it easy for young children to understand. I would use this book in a Thanksgiving Unit.
October 12, 2010
Geared to elementary ages this title is chock full of information leading up to the first thanksgiving. I especially liked that the author started when Plymouth Rock was formed and moved forward instead of just jumping right into the pilgrim-indian feast that we visualize when we hear the word "thanksgiving".
February 5, 2011
This book explains the history of the first thanksgiving. It uses great key terms like Plymouth Rock, plague, Mayflower, etc., that are essential for students to understand about how the first Thanksgiving came about. The book also explains how villages are made and how the pilgrams came over obstacles like making more food and creating villages. Very educational!
Read
September 8, 2013This book is an informational picture book concerning the first Thanksgiving. It is quite long in length and includes descriptive information such as Squanto's origins, the journey of the Mayflower, colonization and farming. The pictures are beautiful. I would recommend this book for upper elementary grade levels.
Grade Reading Level: 5.9
Lexile: 660L
DRA: Not found
Guided Reading: Not found
Grade Reading Level: 5.9
Lexile: 660L
DRA: Not found
Guided Reading: Not found
October 26, 2013
This book is an informational picture book concerning the first Thanksgiving. It is quite long in length and includes descriptive information such as Squanto's origins, the journey of the Mayflower, colonization and farming. The pictures are beautiful. I would recommend this book for upper elementary grade levels.
Grade Reading Level: 5.9
Lexile: 660L
DRA: Not found
Guided Reading: Not found
Grade Reading Level: 5.9
Lexile: 660L
DRA: Not found
Guided Reading: Not found
November 25, 2013
Using Plymouth rock as a literary device, this account of Thanksgiving provides more detail and attention to the role of Native Americans in the holiday and survival of the young Pilgrim colony. Well researched, this picture book is worth sharing with older classes to move them beyond the basic outline of the typical Thanksgiving stories shared.
November 14, 2015
This book is told in a very straightforward manner, and I learned a lot from it (or maybe just was reminded of things I had already learned). However, I wish the writing style had a little more "oomph" and wasn't quite so dry. It's a really good, all-purpose book for young readers, however, so I shouldn't complain. The illustrations be Thomas Locker are terrific, also.
November 8, 2017
This is a well researched and well written account of the first Thanksgiving. Beautiful oil paintings illustrate this nonfiction picture book that gives detailed information about the pilgrims of the Mayflower, the friendship of Squanto, and how they celebrated their survival and good fortune. This would be a good one to share with kids during the month of November.
October 10, 2010
An account of Thanksgiving that includes the kidnapping of Squanto and the subsequent death of his tribe due to European diseases, but it concludes that Thanksgiving is a celebration of "the rock on which our nation began."
May 2, 2011
I thought this had a lot of good information, but I felt like it didn't do enough to dispel myths about the first Thanksgiving, and it seemed strange to me that there was so much geological history included. Still, I enjoyed reading it.
December 12, 2011
A fair telling of the Thanksgiving story. It is on my "to purchase" list for the Middle School Library. Include geological facts about Plymouth Rock which I did not know. I was saddened to find out that the original rock has been cut up to fit "its present day portico".
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews