Celebrate Thanksgiving with these children's books

Celebrate Thanksgiving by Deborah Heiligman

Thanksgiving began as an occasion to give thanks for 

bountiful harvests, but it developed into the ultimate American

holiday.  On this day, people all around the country are unified despite 

their diversity.  Family and friends come together to take stock

of the triumphs and challenges of the preceding year.  They also

share traditions that cut across cultures with parades, football games,

and lots of wonderful food.

In this visual odyssey, author Deborah Heiligman takes readers

back in time to the earliest harvest feasts in colonial America and

around the globe.  She chronicles the contributions of Sarah

Josepha Hale, the magazine editor who spent 40 years campaigning

to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.  And she looks at how today's customs

got their start and became ingrained in our national consciousness.

N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims by Robert San Souci

The adventurous saga of the settling of the Plymouth Colony is

strikingly portrayed in this magnificent book.  Spectacular paintings

by renowned artist N.C. Wyeth gloriously bring to life the

carefully researched text by well-known children's book author

Robert San Souci.

The story of the Pilgrims, including the first Thanksgiving, is a 

central part of America's history and, over the course of time,

it has taken on an almost mythical quality.  Drawing on a variety

of resources, including the author's visit to the Plymouth Plantation,

the text dispels some popular misconceptions about the settling of our

nation as it broadens our understanding of the bravery and

determination of our forebears.

Mayflower 1620 by Plimoth Plantation with Peter Arenstam

The story of the ship called Mayflower is deeply woven

into the fabric of American history.  This is how it goes: Intrepid passengers

called Pilgrims sailed a stormy sea to find religious freedom in a new

world.  Against harsh odds, they carved a little cradle of civilization that

gave birth to a great democracy.  Well, that's how it happened, wasn't it?

Or was it? Actually, that's the myth.  The real history of Mayflower is a lot

more complicated.

Taking a new look at Mayflower means learning that these seafarers were

not a unified group, that not all of them came to America for religious

reasons, and that their new land was not an empty paradise for the taking.

They did not call themselves Pilgrims.  That name, which traditionally refers

to wayfarers in foreign lands, was given them later by historians.

Plimoth Plantation brings this critical and compelling period of history

to life by using careful research of primary sources as the basis of a richly 

informative text and scenes recreated by costumed interpreters.  Fascinating details

reveal what Mayflower passengers ate, how they passed their

time on the long voyage, and what they hoped and dreamed.

Tapenum's Day by Kate Waters

What is the greatest honor a young Wampanoag Indian boy can

hope for?  To e chosen to become a pniese, a warrior counselor.

That is Tapenum's dream.  But his dream is dashed when other

boys are chosen and he is not.

As Tapenum goes about his day, he can't stop thinking about his

disappointment.  But soon, with great determination, he makes a

plan.  today he will begin training himself to become stronger.  He

will improve his hunting skills and run long distances every day.  If

he can become very strong in body and spirit, perhaps he will be chosen next year.

The third book in the trilogy that includes Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life 

of a Pilgrim Girl and Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of A Pilgrim Boy,

this book explores the life of a Wampanoag Indian boy in the 1620s.  Photographed

in full color at Hobbamock's Homesite at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth,

Massachusetts, here is an intimate and accurate portrayal of native life at the time

of colonization by Europeans.