Squanto and the First Thanksgiving, 2nd Edition (On My Own Holidays)

Gives good information and insight into the life of Squanto. It’s for children so you’d have to do more research for more indept information and truth to the story, but definitely a good start.

This is probably one of the best books I have on Thanksgiving. Being a preschool teacher with 13 grandkids I wore my first copy of this book out and needed to purchase another one this year. It truly brings out history about the treatment of Indians that other books left out. I recommend this book to anyone homeschooling or just reading to their favorite preschooler.

This book covers the whole story of Squanto (and not just how he helped the Pilgrims) in a simple easy to read way. My second grader has to write a book report on the how Squanto helped the Pilgrims and we will be using this book, because iit explains how and why he was able to help.

When I was in 4th grade (many years ago) I LOVED this book and frequently checked it out of the school library. I found it on Amazon.com and ordered it immediately. It brought back so many great memories and I'm thrilled to have my own copy that I can read and reminence with anytime I want to! Thank you!

This book is a misleading piece of revisionist history. The second page of this book states that the people of Squanto's tribe were "friendly and peaceful," while various other sources state that the people of Patuxet killed all the white men with whom they came in to contact. No doubt Ms. Kessel is pushing the liberal narrative that the Native Americans were "friendly and peaceful" while the bad, bad white man came and not only took away their land, but also was so very cruel. The truth is that there were atrocities committed on both sides. I do not consider this book appropriate for my five year old as it is written and will have to cross out the lies before doing so.Page 44 says, "Usually the Pilgrims thought that games were a waste of time, but on this day they gave in." I need to do some more studying, but I don't know that this is accurate either as the author may have been confusing the Pilgrims (Separatists) with the Puritans. I know I have read in a couple of sources that the Pilgrims did not dress in brown or black as they are often pictured, but that the Puritans did. And yes, the Pilgrims are pictured that way in this book.Were the author and the illustrator trying to deceive the children for whom this book is written or were they just sloppy in their research? I don't know. Either way, it is not accurate.

I read this book to my first grader (home school)and he was deeply interested. It prompted questions and he really felt for Squanto and the pilgrims. A great "living book" for young children. It touched us both, as we are both just beginning to research Thanksgiving (since my public education did such a disservice - in this area in particular).

It was too advanced for Kindergarten. Too many words in the book too long to read. Plus the pictures were in black and white.

My poor review does not have to do with the content of the text but with the poor quality of the paperback book. I appreciated that this was not a sugar coated version of the story. It is appropriate for young children. However, it faces some of the hard truths such as the effect of European disease on Squanto's tribe and that Squanto was captured and enslaved by Europeans twice. It also describes the positive relationships.Unfortunately, the book simply fell apart within the first use. This was not a problem with a single book. My school purchased multiple copies and they all fell apart the first time they were used.