America's Real First Thanksgiving

by Robyn Gioia

When most Americans think of the first Thanksgiving, they think of the Pilgrims and the Indians in New England in 1621. But 56 years before they celebrated, Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez arrived on the coast of Florida and founded the first North American city, St. Augustine. On September 8, 1565, the Spanish and the native Timucua celebrated with a feast of Thanksgiving. The Spanish most likely offered cocido, a rich stew made with pork, and the Timucua may have brought wild turkey, venison, or even alligator, along with corn, beans, and squash. Learn about our real first Thanksgiving. Learn about Spain and Florida in the 1560s. And make your own cocido from a recipe provided in this important and groundbreaking book.

Genres: History

48 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2007

About the author

Award winning author, Robyn Gioia, grew up in the multicultural area around Ohio State University. One of her all-time favorite games was the trail of clues. She and her friends would spend hours writing riddles and clues to stump each other and then hide them in strategic places. Over the years, Robyn has served hamburgers at McDonalds, filed things for the magazine Highlights for Children, clerked in a bookstore (she read lots of books), worked in several restaurants (she learned about gourmet cooking) and co-owned a top ten award-winning, gourmet Chinese restaurant. She has even made her first-place almond chocolate chip cookies to order. She later became a teacher and is now the principal at an International School in Japan.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting true story. Full of geography and historical facts. A bit long for most children.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read while visiting St Augustine

[Linda Munro · Rating 2 out of 5]

First and foremost, I would like to apologize to anyone who has sent me a book that I have yet to review. Between taking two classes through coursera, illness, pain and deaths in my immediate family, I have had little time. Some, I have read and have yet to review. Others may simply be on my pile of too read books. I am slowly catching up….

About this book….

I found it on goodreads in the giveaway section and thought it would be a good book to read with my youngest (6 year-old) granddaughter. She is reading chapter books and has been for quite some time. Her siblings read some books from the juvenile section, but they are slowly moving into the young adult readers. This book is formatted for juveniles, but written at a higher reading level. My granddaughter, who has excellent reading comprehension had to ask a great deal of questions to clarify things in her mind.

I also have to note that she was extremely disappointed in the book because she thought it would be ALL about that particular Thanksgiving event, but there was very little written about the actual event. It was more a prelude to how and why the event occurred. My granddaughter wanted to know more about the event itself, more about how things were prepared, more about the now extinct Native American Tribe that partook in the event, as well as more about the individual people; what they did to prepare, what each donated to the actual event, how they communicated, etc. I tend to agree, therefore, I have rated this book with a 2.

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a concise and simple to read account of the exploration and settling of Spanish Florida. As the author notes, Thanksgiving rituals were part of Spanish exploration ritual, giving thanks for a safe journey to a new land. Though Florida was not a part of the original 13 British colonies that became the Unites States, the Thanksgiving celebration on September 8, 1565, at St. Augustine, Florida, was the first recorded Thanksgiving shared between European settlers and Native Americans in a permanent European city on the soil of the present day United States, occurring 56 years before the Thanksgiving at Plymouth. It became an annual traditional. The book is well illustrated, and the recipe for Cocido was quite good, and may become part of my Thanksgiving tradition in the future. The simplicity of the text, along with the timeline and glossary make this a good history book for young readers. However, the book is more about the events leading up to the first celebration, than about the event itself. Still, it is a worthy acknowledgment of multiculturalism, and the value of looking at history from a new and broader prospective.

[Terry]

This is fascinating reading. The cover is deceptive, as I opened the book expecting a holiday story. Instead, I had a history and geography lesson! The maps are intriguing and could be a book until themselves.

To read our full review, go to The Reading Tub®.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to Robyn Gioia, the real first Thanksgiving in a permanent North America settlement took place on 9/8/1565 in St. Augustine, FL, 56 years prior to the Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts. This book is full of Florida history and gives a totally different perspective on my favorite national holiday. A recipe for Cocido is included.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was received as a first reads giveaway book. Beautiful pictures and fascinating telling. I plan to put this aside for my babies for when they are school age.