The Story of the Pilgrims

by Katharine Ross

From the dangerous voyage across the Atlantic to the first harsh winter to the delicious Thanksgiving feast, all the excitement and wonder of the Pilgrims’ first year in America is captured in this vivid retelling that is perfect for the youngest historians.
  

Genres: Thanksgiving, Picture Books, Holiday, History, Childrens, Nonfiction, American History

24 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

Reviews

[Emily Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emily’s Circle Time Series
The kids liked it fine, but the author writes “savage Indians” and I think for middle schoolers I need a Thanksgiving story with better perspective.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great educational book for your children of all ages. My 5 yr old loved it as well as my 3 yr old twins. Lots of good information with beautiful pictures that will help keep children engaged. This one was recommended as extra reading after my son's history lesson on Pilgrims and Thanksgiving. And since this time of year is coming up, I thought it would be fun. We really enjoyed this book. The pictures were colorful and the words were easy to understand. It went over the same information we learned in the lesson and my son loved reading about it again. Highly recommended reading for this topic. A great addition to any children's library.

[Darlene Pasquale · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) no awards
2) appropriate grade levels - Kindergarten - 3rd grade
3) Summary - This book tells the story of the Pilgrims and their journey to America. Real historical events are portrayed such as the voyage on the Mayflower ship and the Pilgrim's friendship with the Indians. The story shows the background history of our Thanksgiving holiday and why we celebrate it.
4) Review - I like the illustrations in this story. I think they are very detailed and would be extremely helpful for a child to understand what is happening in the story. However, I think that it can be very wordy at times and would be difficult for younger students to follow all that is going on.
5) A teacher can prepare a craft project using 1/2 cut out paper plates and popsicle sticks to create the Mayflower ship that the Pilgrims used for transportation. The students can paint the plates, and add different shaped paper cut outs to the popsicle sticks for sails. A teacher can make "suit cases" out of filing folders and have children use one side (the top) to write down the items that they would bring with them on the Mayflower. The children could use the other side (bottom) to draw pictures of what they wrote.

[Cian · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Target audience: ages 5-8
2. My first reaction was "meh." Long text and subdued pictures led me to believe my 5 year old would not care for it. I was wrong. He loved it and requested every night despite more fun rhyming turkey-centered silly books we had. More importantly, he absorbed it, acted it out, drew his own pictures of the first Thanksgiving, etc. It reinforced what he was learning at school and added a bit more so I am very pleased with it

[Yevin Goonatilake · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Story of the Pilgrims is a children's literature book that explores the English pilgrimage of 1620. It teaches children about the pilgrim's voyage to the new world of America in a fun and interesting way, with many descriptive pictures throughout the book. One of the book's primary themes is showing gratitude and appreciation. Since the primary purpose of the book is to teach children about the pilgrimage and the creation of the Thanksgiving holiday, the genre of this book is informational. From reading this book, children can learn to show thanks to those who helped them advance themselves to their current state. They could also learn about the kind and friendly native Americans who supported the first English pilgrims that voyaged to America. This book was a WOW book for me because it not only taught children a valuable message but also taught the history of the first English voyagers to come to America in a fun, colorful manner.

There were nearly no literary devices used in this book, as the book is merely telling a real account of the historical pilgrimage. However, the author does write the story in a very simple and understandable manner. The book was also free of bias due to its well-researched foundation and the positive portrayals of every race and gender, even though it was about the non-equal world in the 17th century.

[Morgan Hatfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book to read before children go on Thanksgiving break, this book teaches students why we celebrate Thanksgiving and what are the important aspects of it. This book is easy for young children to read and understand, while leaving room for them to ask questions about the story. This book has Illustrations that bring the story to life as well as displaying the time period it was apart of. This is also an effective way for children to learn about the culture of the Native Americans. This is a good way to open up a discussion of why we say what we are thankful for on thanksgiving.

[Kimberlee Gutterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustration style in this book seemed very plain and boring to me. However, the text was very interesting and kept me wanting to read more. As a teacher this book would be perfect for me to read around Thanksgiving or really anytime in November. There are many activities we could do after reading this such as make hand turkeys, make a song, dress as pilgrims/native Americans and many more. This book would be best suited for children 3-7. This book is great for introducing children to early American history without it being boring or overwhelming.

[Samantha Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Story of the Pilgrims" tells a story of how the pilgrims got to America and how they survived there. This story does a great job on explaining what had happened to the pilgrims and how they have over came a lot. The way they depict the Indians in this book sheds a good light. Learning how thanksgiving came about isn't taught as much anymore and I think this book could help a lot. I learned stuff while reading this book that I didn't know before. I thought this book did a great job at explaining the story that both children and adults can learn something from it.

[Markie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted a sort of primer on the whole thanksgiving story as an opening to the conversation with my little on this fraught but familiar holiday story. I guess this accomplishes that, even if I am omitting a particular adjective accompanying the word “Indian” in most instances and am swapping that word out for Wampanoag Native American.

It is important to me that the next generation of white people be aware that their predecessors’ fears continue to cause an inordinate amount of suffering among those people of whom we were so afraid.

[Nora Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that this book followed the story of pilgrims coming to America and meeting Native Americans and having the first thanksgiving. I think that it would be such a great story to share to children to allow them to understand a part of history. I will be sharing something like this to my future students.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This children's books actually packs a lot of information on the Pilgrims & the origin of Thanksgiving. Of all the books in my son's Thanksgiving collection I consider this one the most important. Love the art (reminds me of reading something like Strega Nona) & really hits home on what the holiday is about.

[Sandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

YIKES. The author describes the Indigenous Peoples as "Savage Indians" Incomplete and historically inaccurate information are included along with a tremendous focus on the Pilgrim's guns (in the words and illustrations). This has no place in modern classrooms. AVOID!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple introduction to the history of "the First Thanksgiving" from the pilgrims' perspective.

The simplistic drawings (reminiscent of Tomie diPaolo's) and the just-enough-words engaged my preschooler. The story lays a foundation to talk about racism and tribalism.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the illustrations were delightful for children, the text was concise enough to keep attention but detailed enough to provide a good introductory understanding of the Plymouth settlement and the many hardships the Pilgrims had gone through that led to the first Thanksgiving.

[Ashley Jacobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good comprehensive story that is pretty accurate. Simple, but also a good story to hold kids attention!

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to read to children to answer the question of why we celebrate Thanksgiving.

[Heidi Doyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very simple, basic introduction to Pilgrims and their first coming to America. It would make a nice introduction to Thanksgiving for younger students.

[Della Tingle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book for families to share at Thanksgiving!

[Abigail Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more of a story about how Thanksgiving was started, it's a pretty generic pilgrim story. I didn't really like how the story started with "Once Upon A Time", normally that phrase is saved for fairy tales, and this isn't a fairy tale, this is history.

[Tina Sheng]

The book, “The Story of the Pilgrims”, is a historical culture story that talks about how Thanksgiving started between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. The Pilgrims went on a boat called “The Mayflower” and arrived in an unknown land called America. It talks about how the Indian tribes introduced their culture to the Pilgrims. One of the Indians named Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn using their techniques. It shows how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims settle down in America by introducing some of their culture. I think this book is good for young children to read because the illustrations in the book show how the Pilgrims and the Native Americans became so close and created the celebration of Thanksgiving in America. This book is told from the perspectives of the Pilgrim and Indian children. This is important because it emphasizes the relationship between the Pilgrim and Indian children. I think the story focuses primarily on the joyful relations between the two groups, but it does not cover any of the tensions between the two groups. These tensions include land ownership and servitude.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Three to seven year old's.
2. "The Story of the Pilgrims" follows the pilgrim's journey through the Atlantic on the Mayflower. Then, recounts their first interaction with the Native Americans they meet one they arrive in America. The story teaches young readers about the first Thanksgiving that was established and how the Pilgrims and Native American's shared what they had and came together.
3. I remember this book when I was younger. I think this book does a great job at simplifying the events that lead up to the first American Thanksgiving. the images are capturing and the text is clear and informative. The story teaches children the name of the ship, how many pilgrims traveled and what goods were brought, as well as what the Native Americans have. While still keeping the feel of a book read for enjoyment, it conveys grave information for young readers.
4. This book can be used as a way to explain why we celebrate Thanksgiving. In addition, it can used to lead into more information on the early way of life in America, how the Native American's survived and how the new settlers made use of the land.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Once upon a time in the land of England, there lived a small group of people called Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were unhappy, because the King of England would not let them worship God in their own way."

From the first line, I didn't care for this version. The writing is cutesy and sloppy. Not only is "Once upon a time" is not a good way to start a non-fiction story for elementary kids, the mix of whimsy and factual accounting of the difficult Pilgrim experience is strange. And the facts are somewhat confused. For example, Squanto teaches the incredibly ignorant Pilgrims about corn as if they have never encountered a grain before and expected the new land to be exactly like England.The illustrations are colorful, cutesy and similarly confused (the Pilgrims seem to be very unhappy, yet perfectly clothed individuals.

This one is going into our "sell" pile.

[Em Mirra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the story of the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and how these two groups of people overcame their fears and differences to coexist together and create the holiday known as Thanksgiving.

Ages: Early readers (Pre-K to 3rd grade)
Rated 3 out of 5 stars for:

- Interesting illustrations (less use of outline and more focus on simplicity and subtle colors)
- Legible typography (layout involves big paragraphs - could be daunting to shaky readers)
- Introduces organized, basic knowledge of the Pilgrim's story
- Uses term "Indian" instead of Native American and is more Euro-centric (title for example), however, does give credit to Native Americans for important role they played in helping the pilgrims

[Keelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Non-fiction.
Awards: None.
Grade level: K-2.
I would read this story to my class around Thanksgiving. This story does a good job teaching young students about what happened the first Thanksgiving. The younger students would draw a picture of what they are thankful for and the older students would draw a picture and write a short paragraph about what they are thankful for, also a tradition they have with their family. I choose to do this activity with the students so they can truly learn what the Thanksgiving is about tradition and giving thanks for the blessings in your life.

[Anna J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Story of the Pilgrims by Katharine Ross is a nonfiction picture book used to describe the Pilgrims coming to America for religious freedom, meeting the Indians and eventually, having the first Thanksgiving. This book has wonderful, colorful drawings and is a nice simplified version of how Thanksgiving started. This book would be great to read in the lower grades to introduce why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Barnes and Noble recommends this book for ages three to seven.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great book to teach students about a time of brave pilgrims and lifesaving indians. This book will help students to understand how we continue to celebrate the feast of Thanksgiving. I would like to read this book during the week of Thanksgiving.

[Gala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice easy read about the Pilgrims. The history about why they packed their bags and moved far away was illuminating. So many died on this voyage for the sake of being free to worship. Children can get a history lesson from this book. Also, writing and reading.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite Thanksgiving picture book for kids.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best children's books I've read on the story of why we celebrate Thanksgiving.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was adequate in describing the life of the Pilgrims and the story of Thanksgiving.