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Mrs. Madoff's Class
Thanksgiving Day
For the class play, Charlie is the ship called the Mayflower. He says, "I told how I was thankful that I tossed and rolled, and tossed and rolled some more, but didn't sink in the big waves far out at sea." In this early-picture-book companion to Show & Tell Day and Halloween Day, mother-and-daughter team Anne and Lizzy Rockwell celebrate the spirit of friendship and giving that started with the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people on the first Thanksgiving Day.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
November 5, 2018
This is the story told over and over again about Thanksgiving. We celebrate the mythic 1st Thanksgiving and all the things that happened. Maybe, it’s time to make Thanksgiving a holiday of Thankfulness singly. We are thankful to be a nation and thankful for our harvest and thankful for all these things in our lives. It can be about parades and pride in Freedom. Does it really need to be linked to the 1st Thanksgiving in history?
The story is like hundreds out there as the kids put on a play about the 1st Thanksgiving. The art does not really stand out either. Try some other great books out there before this one. I do try and pick out books like look or sound good from a description. Thanksgiving is very repetitive.
The story is like hundreds out there as the kids put on a play about the 1st Thanksgiving. The art does not really stand out either. Try some other great books out there before this one. I do try and pick out books like look or sound good from a description. Thanksgiving is very repetitive.
March 2, 2010
How can a book published in the 1990's still have continue to perpetuate such a misrepresentation about the early settlers and their encounters with the natives?!
December 1, 2010
Written in the voice of a boy named Charlie, Thanksgiving Day tells the story of a few preschoolers putting on a play about the factual events of Thanksgiving. One child even plays the part of the Mayflower! This beautifully (and frankly, adorably) illustrated book serves as a good introduction to the historical aspect of Thanksgiving, but remains appropriate for the earliest of readers and listeners.
November 5, 2014
No surprise here. This story contains the same old erroneous romanticized story about the "first" Thanksgiving. I did like the way characters of different ethnicities were used to tell the story.
November 4, 2013
A book about how the nice pilgrams made friends with the indigenous peoples of Massachusetts.
A book full of lies.
A book full of lies.
November 15, 2008
I read this book to the kids. While it teaches some great things about the first Thanksgiving, I feel the whole "we are putting on a play about it" idea gets lost. Without the book right in front of me, the way it was presented was something like this "Pablo is Squanto. He is thankful that the kernels of corn the Wampanoag people planted sprouted and grew tall and green".
The kids got lost and weren't really sure about the whole play thing so on every page I just kept saying "in the play Pablo played the part of Squanto. As Squanto, he said that he was thankful for..."
That probably made no sense. Sorry peeps.
The kids got lost and weren't really sure about the whole play thing so on every page I just kept saying "in the play Pablo played the part of Squanto. As Squanto, he said that he was thankful for..."
That probably made no sense. Sorry peeps.
April 29, 2018
Thanksgiving Day by Anne F. Rockwell embeds the story of the first Thanksgiving within a story of children at school learning about and celebrating Thanksgiving. What I liked on first glance was the clear diversity of children portrayed in the book. I also liked that the story flowed back and forth between it's depiction of the pilgrims and Wampanoag people. While this story is not perfect in it's characterizations of either the people involved or the actual first Thanksgiving, it at least is a good middle ground from which to begin conversations with children about the history of Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it today.
November 22, 2012
I am becoming a huge fan of Anne Rockwell. When I pick out my educational picture books for my themes, I always seem to have an Anne Rockwell book in my pile. This lady has covered it all and she has done it well. There is not too much information so that my class becomes bored, but they are better than the books that offer so little. This cute book was about a play the children put on about the first Thanksgiving.
November 1, 2011
18 months - kids dress up as thanksgiving themed characters to explain the basics of Thanksgiving (USA)
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 12, 2018
Overall, this was a cute story.
I like how it’s factual, but in a simple, easy way for kids. It delves into the history of thanksgiving, but keeps it on the surface, and just highlights the major stuff for kids so they have a background on why we celebrate thanksgiving each year.
This would be great for parents wanting to teach their kids about the first thanksgiving.
This explains why we celebrate thanksgiving. It starts with the Wampanoag people who lived here before the Pilgrims came from England.
It describes what types of hats they wore, how the pilgrim men wore tall black hats with silver buckles, while the women wore white caps. Wampanoag people wore leather headbands with feathers in them. I wondered if just the men wore them, or the women, too.
I thought it was odd for a kid to dress up as the ship for the play, and show it’s perspective. I wasn’t crazy about the writing then: ‘I was thankful that I tossed and rolled, and tossed and rolled some more, but didn’t sink in the big waves far out at sea.’
One of the kids played Samoset, who was thankful for wild turkeys that roamed what his people called Massachusetts. He said he saw the Mayflower sailing in.
The pilgrims were thankful when they finally reached land. They named a big rock Plymouth Rock, after the place they had traveled from in England. They saw wild cranberries growing there. It said “that’s why we eat cranberry sauce at thanksgiving,” which made it sound funny, as if we eat cranberries just because they saw them there. It should have said we eat them because they were eaten at the first thanksgiving.
They were thankful for the forests full of trees which they made their homes out of.
One of the kids played Squanto, who was thankful for the kernels of corn the Wampanoag planted.
The pilgrims were thankful that Squanto told them that wild turkeys were good to eat, and showed them how to hunt them. The Pilgrims hadn’t seen wild turkey in England.
The pilgrims felt thankful that the Wampanoag greeted them kindly and shared their land with them.
In the play, Chief Massasoit told how the Wampanoag and Pilgrim people shared their harvest feast.
It was a little uncomfortable when it covered the relations between the pilgrims and the Indians.
‘Kate was thankful that her new neighbors were peaceful Pilgrims looking for a new land to live in, and not mean people looking for someone to fight with.
Jessica was thankful that the beautiful land of Massachusetts had enough good things for everyone.'
That isn't the truth of how things transpired, so that's not giving kids the real history of what happened between the two people.
It ends saying this was the first Thanksgiving, and is a story they won’t forget, because they celebrate every year.
On Thanksgiving, people celebrate at home with food, family, friends, and neighbors. They share a feast like the Wampanoag and Pilgrims did. They eat turkey, cornbread, and cranberry sauce.
I know it can’t run through the whole list of foods, but it only mentioned turkey, cornbread, and cranberry sauce as if that’s the only thing people eat on Thanksgiving.
I liked the illustrations in here, particularly the waves on the page with the ship, and the page with the pilgrim and Wampanoag woman gathering sticks and grass by the sea. The sand was littered with shells and starfish, a seagull in the sky, curling waves, and white puffy clouds. It looked very quaint and picturesque there.
I like how it’s factual, but in a simple, easy way for kids. It delves into the history of thanksgiving, but keeps it on the surface, and just highlights the major stuff for kids so they have a background on why we celebrate thanksgiving each year.
This would be great for parents wanting to teach their kids about the first thanksgiving.
This explains why we celebrate thanksgiving. It starts with the Wampanoag people who lived here before the Pilgrims came from England.
It describes what types of hats they wore, how the pilgrim men wore tall black hats with silver buckles, while the women wore white caps. Wampanoag people wore leather headbands with feathers in them. I wondered if just the men wore them, or the women, too.
I thought it was odd for a kid to dress up as the ship for the play, and show it’s perspective. I wasn’t crazy about the writing then: ‘I was thankful that I tossed and rolled, and tossed and rolled some more, but didn’t sink in the big waves far out at sea.’
One of the kids played Samoset, who was thankful for wild turkeys that roamed what his people called Massachusetts. He said he saw the Mayflower sailing in.
The pilgrims were thankful when they finally reached land. They named a big rock Plymouth Rock, after the place they had traveled from in England. They saw wild cranberries growing there. It said “that’s why we eat cranberry sauce at thanksgiving,” which made it sound funny, as if we eat cranberries just because they saw them there. It should have said we eat them because they were eaten at the first thanksgiving.
They were thankful for the forests full of trees which they made their homes out of.
One of the kids played Squanto, who was thankful for the kernels of corn the Wampanoag planted.
The pilgrims were thankful that Squanto told them that wild turkeys were good to eat, and showed them how to hunt them. The Pilgrims hadn’t seen wild turkey in England.
The pilgrims felt thankful that the Wampanoag greeted them kindly and shared their land with them.
In the play, Chief Massasoit told how the Wampanoag and Pilgrim people shared their harvest feast.
It was a little uncomfortable when it covered the relations between the pilgrims and the Indians.
‘Kate was thankful that her new neighbors were peaceful Pilgrims looking for a new land to live in, and not mean people looking for someone to fight with.
Jessica was thankful that the beautiful land of Massachusetts had enough good things for everyone.'
That isn't the truth of how things transpired, so that's not giving kids the real history of what happened between the two people.
It ends saying this was the first Thanksgiving, and is a story they won’t forget, because they celebrate every year.
On Thanksgiving, people celebrate at home with food, family, friends, and neighbors. They share a feast like the Wampanoag and Pilgrims did. They eat turkey, cornbread, and cranberry sauce.
I know it can’t run through the whole list of foods, but it only mentioned turkey, cornbread, and cranberry sauce as if that’s the only thing people eat on Thanksgiving.
I liked the illustrations in here, particularly the waves on the page with the ship, and the page with the pilgrim and Wampanoag woman gathering sticks and grass by the sea. The sand was littered with shells and starfish, a seagull in the sky, curling waves, and white puffy clouds. It looked very quaint and picturesque there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2022
Some historical facts presented through the telling of a school play.
Ages: 4 - 8
Cleanliness: nothing to note.
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Ages: 4 - 8
Cleanliness: nothing to note.
**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!
July 16, 2015
Thanksgiving Day by Rockwell
Always enjoyed holidays books. This audio children's book is about the festivities of the holiday.
Discrepancy of where the holiday was first celebrated: Jamestown or Phymouth. Story tells of the Indians who welcomed the Pilgrims when they arrived at Plymouth Rock.
Talk of the foods for the first celebration. Indians taught them how to hunt and grow the local crops.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Always enjoyed holidays books. This audio children's book is about the festivities of the holiday.
Discrepancy of where the holiday was first celebrated: Jamestown or Phymouth. Story tells of the Indians who welcomed the Pilgrims when they arrived at Plymouth Rock.
Talk of the foods for the first celebration. Indians taught them how to hunt and grow the local crops.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
November 28, 2025
Other than the fact that the portrayal of Pilgrims and Wamponoag is a bit misleading, as are the conditions of the first Thanksgiving, this book was just the thing for a young audience read aloud. The text is simple and easy to follow. They use the names Chief Massosoit, Squanto, Samoset, and Wampanoag, but only introduce them in the context of the story, which is just enough for some audiences. Good read aloud with only a small bit of room for improvement.
December 4, 2010
I would recommend this book to students in grades 1-2. Thanksgiving Day includes information about the history of Thanksgiving and how families come together and celebrate this special day. This book could be read around the Thanksgiving holiday to help students understand the meaning of Thanksgiving.
November 2, 2012
This is a sweet and simple Thanksgiving story. It is just too much so. I know we often keep things simple for the little ones, but we do not have to keep teaching the same romantic vision of the "original" Thanksgiving.
Please see the review by Debbie Reese at http://americanindiansinchildrenslite...
Please see the review by Debbie Reese at http://americanindiansinchildrenslite...
November 16, 2012
This is our second holiday book by Anne F. Rockwell. The first was a halloween book. This book, like the halloween book, explains the holiday through a child's perspective. The voice of the book is a child who just learned about Thanksgiving at school and took part in a play. The speaker tells us what they learned in a very pure way. Nice. Emerson liked it.
November 10, 2013
While I think there are better books on Thanksgiving out there, the kids enjoy it. My three-year-old loves that they sit on mats in a circle like they do at our homeschool co-op. I'd say this would be a good introduction to the holiday for preschool kids. For grade school I'd rather something with a few more facts.
December 5, 2014
This is a great early reader book telling the story of thanksgiving from the point of view of a small boy and his class play. It explores several of the aspects of the thanksgiving day feast and how the pilgrims and native Americans met and became friends. Biased children's book although it does mention that everyone was thankful they were friends and not mean!
September 5, 2012
This book would be great to use when it nears Thanksgiving break in school.After reading this book to the students, a great and really fun thing to do with the children would be to put on a classroom play where they get to play characters in the book and tell the history of Thanksgiving.
November 13, 2008
This was an okay explanation of Thanksgiving for kids. Frank liked the story, but did not ask to read it again.
Read
January 8, 2009HT-Roc
November 8, 2010
I love this book. It is simple and cute. I love that not all the children are "white." It is hard to find quality books like this that are racially diverse about an American holiday.
November 14, 2011
A good Thanksgiving book for the preschool set.
February 11, 2012
PK-2
A story about the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving. I would read this book to my class during preperations for Thanksgiving Day.
A story about the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving. I would read this book to my class during preperations for Thanksgiving Day.
March 3, 2014
I like this book because its about Thanksgiving.
October 24, 2014
It was a good story to share with children. The art is fun and the theme is a bit entertaining. The kids also thought that the book was good, but not great. Definitely a fun book to share.
December 7, 2016
I really enjoyed the sweet, kind-hearted writing style by the author. It was factual and shared the story in interesting way. The illustrations is colorful and add to the story.
November 13, 2018
2.5
This was a cute story. At first I wasn't sure about it, but the illustrations won me over.
To start with, the writing asks the reader if they know why we celebrate Thanksgiving and eat turkey, cornbread and cranberry sauce. When I thought back to what I had read, the story didn't really answer all of that. Turkey, yes, because the Wampanoags taught the Pilgrims to eat wild turkey, but not the other things. Cornbread wasn't mentioned at all, and there was an attempt to explain cranberry sauce but it didn't work for me. It said the Pilgrims saw wild cranberries and that's why we eat cranberry sauce. That was quite a jump to go from wild berries to cranberry sauce.
I thought it was jarring to have the class reading about Thanksgiving. The pages showed a book and it's weird to be reading a book where the character is reading. It's like a double negative or something, confusing and a bit odd. It also showed the children dressing up as Indians, wearing headbands and vests with symbols on them. That is so not ok to have kids dressing up as a culture like it's a costume. They aren't costumes and I wish the illustrations hadn't shown the kids dressing up.
I didn't like the part in the play where he had the role of a ship. A ship isn't a character. Inanimate objects don't have feelings, so it was a weird choice to have the ship be thankful for something. "I was thankful that I tossed and rolled, and tossed and rolled some more." I didn't like that and it shouldn't have been in there.
One of the boys acted out Samoset, dressed as an Indian and that didn't sit well with me.
The illustrations are adorable. All of the people were so cute. The pages were so colorful and engaging and attracted my eyes to all of the details.
This had a surprising amount of historical content. I expected a modern-day story but this was mostly about the first Thanksgiving. It was a nice point made that the Wampanoag already lived here when the Pilgrims landed.
I liked that Samoset was thankful for the wild turkeys. The Pilgrims were thankful for trees, because they cut them down and made houses. Squanto was thankful that the corn grew. The Pilgrims were thankful that Squanto had told them turkeys were good eating and taught them how to hunt them. They were thankful the Wampanoag were kind and shared their land. That was a really important fact to share. The Wampanoag were thankful that the Pilgrims were peaceful and not mean. They were thankful the land was full of enough for everyone.
Thanksgiving started out as a feast with the Wampanoag and Pilgrims. And that was the first Thanksgiving. The children were lined up on stage after their play. They vowed that it's a story they'll never forget and they celebrate it every year. We don't work or go to school and we're thankful at our homes where we eat with family and friends, just like the Pilgrims and Wampanoag.
My sister passed this to me and I'm glad I read it. This is a cute, informative tale that brings it all back to the first celebration in a cute way. The illustrations are the best part and the writing is pretty good.
This was a cute story. At first I wasn't sure about it, but the illustrations won me over.
To start with, the writing asks the reader if they know why we celebrate Thanksgiving and eat turkey, cornbread and cranberry sauce. When I thought back to what I had read, the story didn't really answer all of that. Turkey, yes, because the Wampanoags taught the Pilgrims to eat wild turkey, but not the other things. Cornbread wasn't mentioned at all, and there was an attempt to explain cranberry sauce but it didn't work for me. It said the Pilgrims saw wild cranberries and that's why we eat cranberry sauce. That was quite a jump to go from wild berries to cranberry sauce.
I thought it was jarring to have the class reading about Thanksgiving. The pages showed a book and it's weird to be reading a book where the character is reading. It's like a double negative or something, confusing and a bit odd. It also showed the children dressing up as Indians, wearing headbands and vests with symbols on them. That is so not ok to have kids dressing up as a culture like it's a costume. They aren't costumes and I wish the illustrations hadn't shown the kids dressing up.
I didn't like the part in the play where he had the role of a ship. A ship isn't a character. Inanimate objects don't have feelings, so it was a weird choice to have the ship be thankful for something. "I was thankful that I tossed and rolled, and tossed and rolled some more." I didn't like that and it shouldn't have been in there.
One of the boys acted out Samoset, dressed as an Indian and that didn't sit well with me.
The illustrations are adorable. All of the people were so cute. The pages were so colorful and engaging and attracted my eyes to all of the details.
This had a surprising amount of historical content. I expected a modern-day story but this was mostly about the first Thanksgiving. It was a nice point made that the Wampanoag already lived here when the Pilgrims landed.
I liked that Samoset was thankful for the wild turkeys. The Pilgrims were thankful for trees, because they cut them down and made houses. Squanto was thankful that the corn grew. The Pilgrims were thankful that Squanto had told them turkeys were good eating and taught them how to hunt them. They were thankful the Wampanoag were kind and shared their land. That was a really important fact to share. The Wampanoag were thankful that the Pilgrims were peaceful and not mean. They were thankful the land was full of enough for everyone.
Thanksgiving started out as a feast with the Wampanoag and Pilgrims. And that was the first Thanksgiving. The children were lined up on stage after their play. They vowed that it's a story they'll never forget and they celebrate it every year. We don't work or go to school and we're thankful at our homes where we eat with family and friends, just like the Pilgrims and Wampanoag.
My sister passed this to me and I'm glad I read it. This is a cute, informative tale that brings it all back to the first celebration in a cute way. The illustrations are the best part and the writing is pretty good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2019
Book Summary:
Mrs. Madoff’s class performs a play that details the events that led to the
first Thanksgiving between the Wampanoag people and the Pilgrims.
Garbed in handmade costumes, each student is given a specific role (Squanto, Samoset, Pilgrim) and recites a related fact about them. On the page opposite of each student is a picture of the historical figure they represent.
Throughout the story, one of the students explains how some of the original traditions still endure today.
Mini-Review:
Adorable illustrations and simple text filled with easy to understand facts for young children. The characters are diverse, warm and sweet.
This was one of my favorite Thanksgiving books to read to my Pre-K/Kindergarten class.
Mrs. Madoff’s class performs a play that details the events that led to the
first Thanksgiving between the Wampanoag people and the Pilgrims.
Garbed in handmade costumes, each student is given a specific role (Squanto, Samoset, Pilgrim) and recites a related fact about them. On the page opposite of each student is a picture of the historical figure they represent.
Throughout the story, one of the students explains how some of the original traditions still endure today.
Mini-Review:
Adorable illustrations and simple text filled with easy to understand facts for young children. The characters are diverse, warm and sweet.
This was one of my favorite Thanksgiving books to read to my Pre-K/Kindergarten class.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews