The Story of Thanksgiving

by Nancy J. Skarmeas, Stacy Venturi-Pickett (Illustrator)

This book tells the story of the first Thanksgiving--how the Pilgrims came to America on the Mayflower in search of religious freedom, how they landed at Plymouth Rock, and how the Native Americans taught them to plant and then joined them in a Thanksgiving feast. Parents can use the simple text and the bright illustrations of this book to introduce a very young child to this holiday and to the history behind Thanksgiving..

Genres: Thanksgiving, Childrens, Picture Books, Holiday

26 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

This toddler book describes a Christian-focused, historically inaccurate (for starters, the Pilgrims did not eat potatoes), White-washed version of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving. Egregiously, Squanto, also known as Tisquantum (who was sold into slavery by White people and only managed to return to his homeland to discover his entire village had died of smallpox contracted from White settlers), is described in this book as "coming to visit" to "help the Pilgrims." A more accurate version would be that the Pilgrims had robbed the local Native people because they sucked at farming and were starving and didn't care about the Natives, and Tisquantum helped convince the local Wampanoag tribe to form an alliance with the Pilgrims and teach them how to farm rather than murder them all. I guess the toddler version of that would be, "the Pilgrims had a bad crop and stole the Native people's seeds because they were starving. That was wrong and a sin. Tisquantum helped the Natives make peace with the Pilgrims and taught them how to grow food."

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book for kids

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is agreat board book especially for a 7 month old. It actually tells the story of how the pilgrims left England and came to Plymouth in clear terms. And Gabriel listened intently!

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, simple little board book that explains Thanksgiving Day.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Board book. Good summary of traditional pilgrim story for preschool age.