The traditional story of the origins of the American Thanksgiving holiday is told in a powerful, balanced narrative and illustrated with elegant and dramatic seascapes and landscapes done in the panoramic style of Thomas Locker. George's skill as a storyteller delivers an epic tale that begins "in a time so long ago that only the rocks remember" as she anchors us at Plymouth Rock and then opens the tale of struggle of the Pilgrims who fled religious persecution only to come to this land and mistreat the Native Americans who were deeply rooted in this land.
As newcomers to an unknown land, the Pilgrims faced great hardships and through the winter many died. This recounting of our early history includes real historical events told in an unromanticized voice. They include the Native American values, their connection to the land the Pilgrims were usurping, and the treatment of Squanto.
Young readers will learn that the Pilgrims invited the Native Americans to a Harvest Feast which for the Native Americans was their traditional Green Corn Dance.
This gorgeously illustrated story holds the potential for great discussion about immigrants, Native Americans and justice.
32 pages 978-0399219917 Ages 7-10
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
****************
"A sensitive retelling of the story of the first Thanksgiving chronicles the coming of the Pilgrims to America, their early struggles, and their friendship with Squanto, enhanced with richly detailed paintings that evoke the early seventeenth-century colonial period."--from the publisher
