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The First Thanksgiving
This nonfiction Step 3 Step into Reading title is the perfect story for your developing reader!
History comes to life on the page as readers learn the story of the Pilgrims hosting the first Thanksgiving. Vividly retold in simple language for beginning readers, this book is ideal for 1st to 3rd grade readers!
Step 3 Readers feature engaging characters in easy-to-follow plots about popular topics. For children who are ready to read on their own.
History comes to life on the page as readers learn the story of the Pilgrims hosting the first Thanksgiving. Vividly retold in simple language for beginning readers, this book is ideal for 1st to 3rd grade readers!
Step 3 Readers feature engaging characters in easy-to-follow plots about popular topics. For children who are ready to read on their own.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Linda Hayward
155 books15 followersLinda was born in California’s Central Valley, but raised and schooled in south Alabama, during the turbulent 1960’s. Married to her high school sweetheart, she and Tom have two grandchildren, Georgia and Joshua, who give her plenty of ideas for writing children’s stories.
Her first book in the series, “Marshall Visit’s the Hospital,” Marshall leads children around a sometimes scary world, showing them there’s nothing to be afraid of in instances of doctor visits or the possibilities of staying in a hospital. In subsequent books, Marshall will show there are responsibilities to be met as a contributor to the family: caring for pets, helping others, volunteering one’s time, and even accepting a new baby into the household. It is hoped that Marshall will teach children about their world in a fun and entertaining way. The reality is, they may at sometime need to protect themselves against strangers and bullies. Marshall is here to help build their self-confidence and not make them afraid to stand up for themselves.
Marshall, will also teach the importance of staying healthy and seeing the fun in fitness.
It is Linda’s hope that children from the ages three to eight can relate and benefit from Marshall and his friend’s experiences.
Her first in a series, MARSHALL VISITS the HOSPITAL, was published and released in October 2008. Linda has worked in childcare development and has been a teacher’s assistant to first graders. She has written several short stories, for Ben Romero’s book, CHICKEN FLUFF AND OTHER STUFF, and for author, Janice Stevens’ anthology, STORIES OF SERVICE. She is currently working on a history project for the Clovis Unified School District, to be published and released in 2009.
Her first book in the series, “Marshall Visit’s the Hospital,” Marshall leads children around a sometimes scary world, showing them there’s nothing to be afraid of in instances of doctor visits or the possibilities of staying in a hospital. In subsequent books, Marshall will show there are responsibilities to be met as a contributor to the family: caring for pets, helping others, volunteering one’s time, and even accepting a new baby into the household. It is hoped that Marshall will teach children about their world in a fun and entertaining way. The reality is, they may at sometime need to protect themselves against strangers and bullies. Marshall is here to help build their self-confidence and not make them afraid to stand up for themselves.
Marshall, will also teach the importance of staying healthy and seeing the fun in fitness.
It is Linda’s hope that children from the ages three to eight can relate and benefit from Marshall and his friend’s experiences.
Her first in a series, MARSHALL VISITS the HOSPITAL, was published and released in October 2008. Linda has worked in childcare development and has been a teacher’s assistant to first graders. She has written several short stories, for Ben Romero’s book, CHICKEN FLUFF AND OTHER STUFF, and for author, Janice Stevens’ anthology, STORIES OF SERVICE. She is currently working on a history project for the Clovis Unified School District, to be published and released in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 19, 2010
The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward with it's soft,warm color illustrations by James Watling could very well be a child's first real look into the history of the that first Thanksgiving. Here we do not a cutesy baby-ish version of events, but an older, more thoughful child's first entry into history. There is a bit of simplification, as this is not a college text but aimed at the AVERAGE 2nd grader. We learn a little of the early history of these pilgrims, why they were unhappy in England but nothing about their first travels in search of religious freedom. Anyway, what I liked was the reality check on board the Mayflower. You know,the gory details we all wonder about but only children have the pluck to ask about. Like, there was no toilet, worms in the bread, and what foods they ate. There are no real chapter divisions, but one could break this up into about 4 daily readings and get about 15-20 minutes each day. The back cover claims this book aims for 1-3 graders and I would agree, but it's not for very early beginners. Some pages don't really have illustrations and may have instead up to 4 paragraphs which can overwhelm the very beginner. Perhaps share the reading and let the little ones read the shorter pages that have mostly illustration? The hardest words I came across were: hurricanes, risking, sailing,weather, friendly,terrified and settlement. I find this an ideal homeschool book for us because it covers more than one subject: history/social studies, vocabulary, and reading.
September 17, 2015
Good book, but the illustrations are truly lacking. It is a very simple, yet informative book of who the pilgrims were, why they came to America, how difficult their time was the first year here, how deadly it would have been without the Indians help, and lastly what they did for their 3 day celebration we now call Thanksgiving. Good read for K-3.
July 2, 2025
This is the kid friendly version of what really happened at the Plymouth settlement. Besides, I understand that Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving Day a national holiday based on the Mayflower pilgrims but the first Thanksgiving was in Saint Augustine with John Ponce de Leon. "The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by Spanish explorers, not pilgrims, in St. Augustine on September 8, 1565, between the Spanish and Timucuan tribe 56 years before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth in 1621. The first permanent European settlement in North America, and America's “oldest city” is St. Augustine." Accurate Historians
I think it's about time we stop lying to in the history books.
I think it's about time we stop lying to in the history books.
June 18, 2018
Good book for young readers. I like the STEP into reading books, with their recommended grades. This book is more about the pilgrims travel on the Mayflower and their arrival in America. They start to build a life here but it is very hard for them when they first arrive. The Indians become their friends and help them out. Goid information in this book.
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February 10, 2022Well, I read it because we figured it should be weeded out of our library at school and yes, yes it should. A very whitewashed and simplified version of the pilgrim's story and too many uses of "indian" to count. It's leaving the library. I have no idea if it's been updated to more appropriate language in later versions.
July 12, 2021
Super cute book
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November 25, 2023Good kids book about the first thanksgiving.
November 25, 2016
I liked how much care went into this Step Into Reading series. Each Step is specifically designed for children in a certain grade level, based on the average reading capabilities of those ages. This is a Step 2 book, so is recommended for grades 1-3.
I liked the lines: “The people going aboard seem too poor and too ordinary to ever be famous. And yet their names are now in history books. Now, almost 400 years later, we still tell their story.”
It’s so cool to put that into perspective that they were just poor, ordinary people looking for a new life, but what they did went down in history and we all know about them today. They knew that Indians could attack them; they knew ships had sailed and never returned, and they were pirates and hurricanes.
I had never learned that the Pilgrims originally tried to practice their own religions in secret, but the king sent out spies to their houses and arrested them. Their own neighbors turned them in.
I liked the cutout image of the ship in which we could see inside the ship, the different levels and what went on in each one. That made it so much easier to imagine the living conditions of the people on board.
I liked that it painted life on board ship in a true way, enough to let kids know the hardships of life at sea, without going too far. It was crowded, most stayed in one room, and it was cold and damp. There wasn’t any water for washing and no toilet. They had the same food every day, and some of the bread had worms and the water tasted bad.
I’ve also never heard that the Pilgrims made a platform for cannons, because I’ve never read they had canons with them. Or that they knew Indians were watching them, because a scouting party had seen Indians, but the Indians had been fearful and ran away. The Pilgrims could see their campfires and hear them in the woods supposedly, so they knew they were there. They also had a guard posted at all times.
The governor bowed to Massasoit and kissed his hand, and in turn Massasoit bowed and kissed his hand. That’s a greeting I’ve never heard about.
The illustrations weren’t detailed or very realistic, so it was kind of loosely done. My favorite characters were the Indians with the white and black feathers in their hair, and the streaks of white and black paint on their cheeks.
Massasoit sent some men into the forest to hunt for deer so they would have enough food.
It should have been explained what blindman’s bluff is. I have no idea what the rules are for that, and it’s remiss to mention a game and not say the rules.
It ends by saying more people come from England, and the Pilgrims have children and so on until Plymouth grows and they have harvests each year. The last page states that in 1863 Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday. It kind of jolted me out of the story and didn’t really go with the rest of the tale. It had pretty orange trees with kids dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians.
It was an okay read for young kids in early grades of school. The illustrations needed to be better, because they weren’t right for the illustration of the story. It’s just a little too sloppy and the tale demands more than that I think. It properly relates the trials and tribulations, the main highlights of the First Thanksgiving and that first year of the Pilgrims. I was hoping it would mention something about what happened after the 54 years of peace between the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims. It said Massasoit and the governor signed the treaty and peace lasted 54 years, so the natural progression of the story would have said what happened after those years, but this was about the Pilgrims and not a complete history. Guess they wanted to spare kids the realities of what happened next for a later time. I with the last page wouldn’t have jumped to current times and kept in the old days.
I liked the lines: “The people going aboard seem too poor and too ordinary to ever be famous. And yet their names are now in history books. Now, almost 400 years later, we still tell their story.”
It’s so cool to put that into perspective that they were just poor, ordinary people looking for a new life, but what they did went down in history and we all know about them today. They knew that Indians could attack them; they knew ships had sailed and never returned, and they were pirates and hurricanes.
I had never learned that the Pilgrims originally tried to practice their own religions in secret, but the king sent out spies to their houses and arrested them. Their own neighbors turned them in.
I liked the cutout image of the ship in which we could see inside the ship, the different levels and what went on in each one. That made it so much easier to imagine the living conditions of the people on board.
I liked that it painted life on board ship in a true way, enough to let kids know the hardships of life at sea, without going too far. It was crowded, most stayed in one room, and it was cold and damp. There wasn’t any water for washing and no toilet. They had the same food every day, and some of the bread had worms and the water tasted bad.
I’ve also never heard that the Pilgrims made a platform for cannons, because I’ve never read they had canons with them. Or that they knew Indians were watching them, because a scouting party had seen Indians, but the Indians had been fearful and ran away. The Pilgrims could see their campfires and hear them in the woods supposedly, so they knew they were there. They also had a guard posted at all times.
The governor bowed to Massasoit and kissed his hand, and in turn Massasoit bowed and kissed his hand. That’s a greeting I’ve never heard about.
The illustrations weren’t detailed or very realistic, so it was kind of loosely done. My favorite characters were the Indians with the white and black feathers in their hair, and the streaks of white and black paint on their cheeks.
Massasoit sent some men into the forest to hunt for deer so they would have enough food.
It should have been explained what blindman’s bluff is. I have no idea what the rules are for that, and it’s remiss to mention a game and not say the rules.
It ends by saying more people come from England, and the Pilgrims have children and so on until Plymouth grows and they have harvests each year. The last page states that in 1863 Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday. It kind of jolted me out of the story and didn’t really go with the rest of the tale. It had pretty orange trees with kids dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians.
It was an okay read for young kids in early grades of school. The illustrations needed to be better, because they weren’t right for the illustration of the story. It’s just a little too sloppy and the tale demands more than that I think. It properly relates the trials and tribulations, the main highlights of the First Thanksgiving and that first year of the Pilgrims. I was hoping it would mention something about what happened after the 54 years of peace between the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims. It said Massasoit and the governor signed the treaty and peace lasted 54 years, so the natural progression of the story would have said what happened after those years, but this was about the Pilgrims and not a complete history. Guess they wanted to spare kids the realities of what happened next for a later time. I with the last page wouldn’t have jumped to current times and kept in the old days.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2020
A pretty traditional version of the first Pilgrims first year in Plymouth. None of the currently politically correct side. Acceptable for first and second grade due to lack of violence, basically friendly view.
November 20, 2012
Grade Level: 1st
Lexile: 390
Main Character: Massasoit, Squanto, Samoset
Setting: Plymouth Rock
POV: 3rd Person
Genre: Traditional Literature
-Summary: This book tells the mostly true story of the first Thanksgiving that is shared with the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. The book starts with explaining that the Pilgrims decided to come to America on the Mayflower because they did not agree with the King’s religious policies. Once the Pilgrims arrive in America, they do not immediately befriend the Native Americans. Instead, they attempt to survive the first winter in American and do not prove the be successful while trying to fight off the hard cold. Many of the Pilgrims died, so one of the Native Americans comes to make peace with the Pilgrims. He lives with these people for a while and teaches them what they need to know about hunting and farming so they can survive the next winter together. Soon, the Native Americans and the Pilgrims all befriend one another and the Pilgrims invite them to share in a large feast. Over 100 people took part in the first Thanksgiving and it was later ruled by Abraham Lincoln to be an annual holiday of giving thanks.
I would use this book in my classroom as a way of learning about the history of the early United States of America. The students can learn why Europeans originally came from England and what life was like back when America was first being founded.
Lexile: 390
Main Character: Massasoit, Squanto, Samoset
Setting: Plymouth Rock
POV: 3rd Person
Genre: Traditional Literature
-Summary: This book tells the mostly true story of the first Thanksgiving that is shared with the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. The book starts with explaining that the Pilgrims decided to come to America on the Mayflower because they did not agree with the King’s religious policies. Once the Pilgrims arrive in America, they do not immediately befriend the Native Americans. Instead, they attempt to survive the first winter in American and do not prove the be successful while trying to fight off the hard cold. Many of the Pilgrims died, so one of the Native Americans comes to make peace with the Pilgrims. He lives with these people for a while and teaches them what they need to know about hunting and farming so they can survive the next winter together. Soon, the Native Americans and the Pilgrims all befriend one another and the Pilgrims invite them to share in a large feast. Over 100 people took part in the first Thanksgiving and it was later ruled by Abraham Lincoln to be an annual holiday of giving thanks.
I would use this book in my classroom as a way of learning about the history of the early United States of America. The students can learn why Europeans originally came from England and what life was like back when America was first being founded.
December 11, 2013
A book my 6 yr old loved, a little old for my preschoolers. A solid reading level 2 book, this reader has a good amount of advanced vocabulary words, but not so long that it discourages a new reader. Used it for his read out loud book, which was perfect. It took about 20 mins for him to read and had just enough new vocabulary words to make it challenging. Also, it was a fun and interesting story he could get into. He liked it so much, he asked for more by this author. Great reading book!
January 14, 2016
This is a solid book for first grade readers. It is not exactly interesting. It is not exactly complete in information. It is not exactly entertaining. And the illustrations are not exactly brilliant. But kids can read it on their own and understand most of it.
May 12, 2014
Solid historic Thanksgiving content in an early reader.
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February 22, 2015All by herself!
November 26, 2015
A great Thanksgiving book to read.
May 10, 2016
We loved it a lot. It's very interesting and it has very nice pictures.
November 22, 2016
We read this in my placement and did a whole writing unit on this in our thanksgiving books. It is a great one to tell the story about the first thanksgiving!
December 7, 2016
This book is a good introduction to the history of the holiday. It is VERY simplistic, but explains challenging ideas and uses engaging vocabulary. Illustrations add to the the text.
November 21, 2018
11/20/18 Read with Naomi & Julia
11/25/19 Read with Naomi
10/19/20 Read with Julia
9/22/21 Read with Julia
11/25/19 Read with Naomi
10/19/20 Read with Julia
9/22/21 Read with Julia
September 26, 2019
Trying to rethink how we teach the Thanksgiving story to our elementary students required reviewing our collection and this did not make the cut.
November 26, 2011
OK--recommended by our school curriculum but a little on the predictably dry side--
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February 21, 2013Ben read it.
Read
December 2, 2018Easy reader I got for S to do some reading practice with at bedtime. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect based on the title, the typical Pilgrim/Native American story (history? legend?) of the first Thanksgiving.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews