What Was the First Thanksgiving?

What was...?

by Joan Holub

The history of the feast!  After their first harvest in 1621, the Pilgrims at Plymouth shared a three-day feast with their Native American neighbors. Of course, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag didn’t know it at the time, but they were making history, celebrating what would become a national holiday.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Thanksgiving, Childrens, Holiday, School, Education

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2013

About the author

NY Times bestselling children's book author:
GODDESS GIRLS series + HEROES IN TRAINING series (w Suzanne Williams); THIS LITTLE TRAILBLAZER a Girl Power Primer; ZERO THE HERO; I AM THE SHARK. Lucky to be doing what I love!

Reviews

[Valleri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Labeling this book "historical" was difficult. I was interested in this story, and thought maybe I could pass it along to my daughter so that she would have more cultural context about what really happened during the first Thanksgiving, but no. I was sorely disappointed that this narrative glossed over the fact that European settlers would massacre entire tribes of Native Americans only to hold a feast of "thanksgiving" to their god for "victory" in their battles. It became to costly to hold so many feasts (because there were so many battles waged against Natives for their land and resources) so European settlers settled on one giant feast which supposedly was meant to honor Squanto for his teaching the settlers how to grow their own food. The page in question where I stopped reading specifically states "a day of prayer and thanksgiving would be announced whenever something special happened. It might be to celebrate winning a battle or surviving a bad winter" (Holub 54). A fine example of how history in America is twisted to downplay how vile parts of our history actually are: how repugnantly we treated people not of European descent or Puritan faith. As my children are taught an Anglo-revised version of history in their schools, we will definitely be discussing the actuality of events which have caused our nation to be where currently are and what we can do to make sure that changes. We are all human. We all deserves the same rights and responsibilities to each other.

[Ericka Clou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not an expert on the history of Thanksgiving so I don't know how precisely accurate this was, but it was a more balanced account of the event than I received when I was growing up. It definitely mentioned injustices to the Native Americans, though it wasn't fully focused on that. I read this to both of my kids and we all learned some new things, and we discussed further what it said about Native Americans.

[Christina Dendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know it's for young readers, but I still expected better. This book gave the generic glossed over perception of Thanksgiving with a few nods to "we can't be sure what happened." It also had some factual errors and some presumptive rhetoric, and I found the prose to be poorly written, especially relative to many other titles in this series. Overall, I have found the bios in this line to be far superior to the events.

[Gabriel alexander Arras · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book is a great one because it shows how the first thanksgiving took place and it tells you about the making of it. It's very detailed and it is very satisfying. I recommend this book to anyone who likes history, holidays, and biographies.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book in this great series.
Wonderful for enthusiastic young readers.

[Libby Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a great way to delve deeper into the history of the first Thanksgiving in an age-appropriate way for my 5, 7, and 10 year old.

It was thorough and well organized for connecting what things were most likely like in 1621 vs how we decided to celebrate it as a national holiday and how it’s transformed over time.

There’s more packed into this short, non-fiction book than I ever learned in my K-12 education years. And I knew it made an impact when my 10 year old daughter expressed, “Mom, I feel a mixture of things. Thankful for the pilgrims and what they sacrificed so they could have religious freedom but also sadness for everything that was lost along the way. I’m sad the Indigenous people were hurt so much.”

This book, accompanied by others, I think can be a great resource for teachers and parents who want to start sharing the more honest view of American history.

[Lisa Plunkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great nonfiction reference type book about the history behind the first Thanksgiving. I appreciated that it started with details about the Puritans, it included little bios about important people during that time (William Bradford, Chief Powhatan, Squanto, Sarah Hale) and it was truthful about how the pilgrims mistreated the Native Americans. I am homeschooling my kids this year and we were able to finish this in two sittings while they alternated reading aloud. It sparked some great discussion and was more entertaining than a traditional textbook.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend if you are doing an essay or something on Thanksgiving. It is a very fun book and it gives you so much information.

[Karly · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars, but I'm feeling generous today. I think I prefer the "Who was..." books in this series as opposed to "What was..." but this was still very informative.

[Chelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It still amazes me how little we truly know about the first thanksgiving. So much is uncertain.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would probably have given this 4 stars, but both of my kids insisted on 5... They weren't excited to read it at first, but now they're begging to visit Plymouth Plantation, the Wampanoags, and the Mayflower II.

[aloux · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book bc my teacher said it was a good idea but it was not. Illustration are cool, I’ve learned the history of the first thanksgiving but that not interesting.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

My children and I really like this series but this book had many inaccuracies in it. I hate to give such a bad rating for a book in a series we really love. The last few chapters on how Thanksgiving became a national holiday, our modern day Thanksgiving, and what to expect if you visited Plimoth Plantation were good. The Pilgrams and Squanto were not displayed in a good light.

[Mosiah.p · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a good book about how thank giving was start it show you how it got people togather

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it's odd advertising "16 pages of photos inside!" when the "photos" are mostly of illustrations or engravings, only three pages of photos are actually of 3-D items/people.

That said, while I haven't strongly fact-checked the book, it does at least depart from the whitewashed version of Thanksgiving where the indigenous Americans and the pilgrims just magically sat down at a table one November and ate together and also the pilgrims had black clothing because black is such a common dye that they would totally have found in abundance in the new world (this DOES get pointed out in the book, that brown or red would have been more common).

It also backs up parts of Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims, which is handy—imagine, stated facts aligning! Most of the book admits to being speculative, too, that we only have so much information from that time, since there were only about 100 people in the initial Mayflower crossing. I do appreciate that, vs. declaring that they absolutely did such-and-such with no evidence to back it up.

A decent effort, though some of the art is a little weird (I'm not exactly fond of the "big head" style used for this series of books). Definitely better than the sanitised version of Thanksgiving they taught us in elementary!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated phrases like these foods "might have been eaten" or these games "might have been played" at the first Thanksgiving, giving the reader the opportunity to understand that we will never know exactly what happened during that time. I also appreciated learning that Pilgrims did not dress like they are depicted now. Black is not a color that would have been achieved using natural dyes. They clothing would have been various shades of brown and possibly a small amount of red. While the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Native tribes was discussed, I think it's apparent that this was rather glossed over, possibly because the book is geared toward children, but also, I think it's very American to "gloss over" our role in displacing and killing the people who first settled this land.

Some of the most interesting info was about the original Macy's Day Parade which included real animals from the Central Park Zoo which were replaced with balloon animals three years later in 1927. The balloons were released at the end of the parade and finders were given a prize from Macys. I also found the info about Plymouth Rock interesting. It's unknown if this was the actual landing place for the Pilgrims but the removal of the top of the rock and its size now (half of what it originally was) due to people chipping off parts for keepsakes is sad.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since no one today was around for the first Thanksgiving, all we have to go on are anyone's written accounts and various artifacts. Most of us know the generic story of the struggles of the Pilgrims to survive their first year and wary friendship with local natives. In What Was the First Thanksgiving? by Joan Holub much of the widely known details are presented along with information dispelling some myths. The Pilgrims and the Indians did help each other in different ways but didn't fully trust each other. The author presents scenarios that claim the breakdown in somewhat friendly relations was likely do to some misunderstandings. She also writes that the original Thanksgiving was not the more formal affair depicted in many paintings but rather an informal feast lasting three days with food from their harvest as well as game comprised the meals. The author continues the history of Thanksgiving as it developed into a recognized national holiday. While this may not satisfy some who are looking for a politically correct version of the first Thanksgiving, I think the author does a decent job of producing a fair assessment given the centuries we are removed from the actual events.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading the Pilgrim Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard and wanted to see how the story of the first Thanksgiving was presented in this series. The available evidence indicates that the original Pilgrims and got along well with the Wampanoags. They made a treaty and coexisted in peace for almost 40 years. As the descendants of the original Pilgrims came to power, things did go very badly for the natives. What happened to the natives was horrible. I think this book does a good job providing the basic storyline of what happened, but I feel it didn't emphasize the fact that relations were good for many years. The original Pilgrims treated the natives with dignity. They paid the natives back for the corn they took (which was not mentioned in this book). In the current climate today, I don't think there is anything wrong in pointing out the good things the early European settlers did. It seems like the politically correct thing to do is to emphasize the bad. I have no problem pointing out the wrongs done to the natives. I only wish the good would be told also.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly well researched. Several passages were misleading, though not outright inaccurate. An informed parent or teacher could easily discuss the truth with a kid who was interested in reading this book.

However, MAJOR kudos to the author for including the grave robbing and stealing the colonizers did! For a kids book about Thanksgiving to include this is a big plus.

Could it be more accurate? Yes. Could it be less speculative? Yes. Is there an excuse for not being accurate? No. Yet I am keeping this in my classroom because I am desperate for kids books that accurately portray the history of the period.

[Hassan Alsalami · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book "What was the first Thanksgiving" is about the history of thanksgiving. This book gives you great facts like no one ate pumpkin pie like we usually do today. This book brings up interesting subjects like there either was no native Americans or there was. The first Thanksgiving lasted 3 days. this book is below level. I recommend this to 5th to 4th graders.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son and I enjoy these Who Is...What Was...Where Is series. I enjoyed the history of the pilgrims and the Native Americans. I loved learning about Sarah Hale who helped establish Thanksgiving as a permanent holiday. I also enjoyed learning some "Turkey Facts", traditions, and about the Plymouth village that can be visited in Massachusetts.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good introduction to Thanksgiving. Since it was for my 7 yr old I appreciated that it doesn't completely sugarcoat what the pilgrims did. It is appropriate for 7 yr olds and a small look into the truth of Thanksgiving. I learned about the wampanoag, was never taught about them in school.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. I had my memory restored of from my old history classes. The book reads smoothly and would be a good starter book for learning about the pilgrims and their hardships in the first few years of colonizing.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Good for intermediate grades.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great! I learned a lot and my daughter did also! I love she was engaged in asking questions (she's 5) and I feel she learned a bunch! Great read.

[Aliya A · Rating 4 out of 5]

What was the first Thanksgiving was a biography/Autobiography I would recommend this book to people who like to learn about new things and people who like Thanksgiving day.

[Elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good. I liked this book because it was educational and i learned new things about thanksgiving.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is interesting to see just how much things change over time.

[Stephen Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best story of Pilgrims and the Wampanoags!!

[Lance Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun! Excellent illustrations...