Customer Reviews

The Landing of the Pilgrims (Landmark Books)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This very factual recounting of the saga of the Pilgrims is taken largely from William Bradford's personal diary, 'Of Plimoth Plantation' and is a fast paced, and insightful look into the lives of the Pilgrims and the price they paid for religious freedom. It also accounts accurately the peaceable and friendly relations they maintained with the Indians of that region, and their mutual treaty which lasted for nearly 50 years, until the time of King Phillip's War. The amicable relations which the Pilgrims maintained with King Massasoit and Squanto reveal the noble intentions of both parties. This is an essential part of American history and should be read by all students studying this period. Adults will enjoy this one too!

A Response to The Landing of the Pilgrims

Landing of the Pilgrims, is a book about the first settlers in the New World and their journey across the ocean in hope of religious freedom. It also tells the story of their good times, troubles, and hardships. The author, James Daugherty, vividly tells their story by giving evidence of truth through real documents and their journals. In my opinion, there is no better way to learn about them.
This historical fiction book opens up in 1607 with the main character, William Bradford, as a boy, and goes through his life to the death. The reader learns of Bradford's fellow believers and their journey to Holland, life there, and their long pilgrimage across the great Atlantic, to America. The reader is also shown the hard work and effort put in by these people so that we can have what we do today.
I think this is a good, well-written book that conveys the elementary message of the reasons and purposes the Pilgrims had in coming to "New England". Daugherty makes the reader feel as if he were in Virginia over 350 years ago sharing the new knowledge and new experiences with Bradford and the early settlers. He does a great job constructing sentences and he really describes things very well. I think Daugherty did a good job with the details as well. He answered almost all the questions a reader could ask and he could answer about life of the early settlers. But I think he probably could have included more about what the pilgrims did for leisure and play. At one time he mentions that they worked six days a week and they worshipped most all of Sunday with just a little time for play. Perhaps they didn't do anything for fun during the week? If the latter is not the case than I wish he would have been more detailed in that area.
One thing that I learned about was the charter companies and their contracts with the new settlers. The company provided them with goods and transportation and in return the Pilgrims would send them furs, fish, and other new products of America. The company worked like the modern day stock market.
Overall it was a good book and very enjoyable. Considering it's length and content I would recommend the book to 5th graders. It could also be a good tool for learning how to write well-constructed sentences. I hope Daugherty has written other books like this one (only at a higher reading level). If so I will definitely read more of his work!

I bought multiple copies of this book to use with fifth grade students. It is short chapters--snippets of things that happened with the pilgrims. Very factual and somewhat dry. Towards the end of the book, it gets difficult to keep all of the Native American chiefs separated. I don't think I'll use it again. The kids did not enjoy it at all. If you're looking for a pilgrim book, The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple is much better.

We used this book as part of our Beautiful Feet Early American History study. I have always appreciated Landmark Books for augmenting our history studies at home. The text is clear, readable and interesting. The facts are simply presented along with the story, making it easy to engage the kids in our topics. We use this along with a timeline to remember when things happened and who the important people were within that time period or event.

This book was an excellent book to read with my 8-year-old and 6-year-old over the Thanksgiving weekend. I liked the fact that it started 13 years before the Mayflower, giving background information about the Puritans time in England then Holland. Out of 150 pages, 23 of them took place before the Mayflower even entered the picture. Many books just very briefly touch on this background information.

The book is very factual, with periodic quotes from the Pilgrim's writings, including their now-outdated spelling. The chapters were very short, usually 3-5 pages. I liked this in general, because it makes it easy to read just a bit, or to motivate myself to read "just a bit" more. It did occasionally make the story seem a bit episodic. I do wish there had been a bit more information about the Pilgrim's daily lives, especially the children, and also about their worship.

On the whole, this is a good book to read aloud with the elementary set for Thanksgiving. It was a bit over my 6-year-old's heads at some points (mostly keeping track of all the Indian names), but not a problem for my 8-year-old. This would also be a good book for upper elementary school on up to read on their own. I would definitely recommend this book be in any homeschooling household.

This is a great, in-depth overview of the pilgrims for children beginning with 'young Will Bradford' and 'Master Brewster' in Scrooby, England. It follows the pilgrims on their flight to Amsterdam and Leyden, then onto the Mayflower (and briefly the Speedwell), and finally their landing off of Cape Cod. It gives very detailed descriptions of the pilgrims' experiences -- often using direct quotes from "Of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford. We are homeschoolers and read this aloud over a two week period as part of our study of American History. I highly recommend it -- along with almost all of the other Landmark Books!

The Central Texas Colony of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Texas provides each new member with a copy of The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty because the information contained in the book is fact instead of myth and the book can be easily read in an hour.

Who were the Pilgrims? This book takes your readers back to the Puritan days in England, their migration to Leyden, and their many attempts to strike out for the new world.

What did the Pilgirms find in the New World? Not Jamestown Colony, their intended destination. No. They found a wilderness with echoes of the Native Americans who had suffered and died from a plague four or five years before the arrival of the Mayflower. They found no way to feed themselves, being undersupplied and arriving in the winter. They found some Native Americans who attacked them, others who traded with them, and still others who could communicate with them. Some of the Pilgrims actually survived the first winter -- 51 survivors.

How did the Pilgrims establish themselves in Plymouth Colony? Watch as they built houses, storehouses, fortifications. Watch as they organize hunting, guard, and trading groups, learn to farm. Watch as they see new ships on the horizon -- resupply ships? Not at all -- ships that bring new, sick colonists to be healed and fed; ships that demand what the colony has produced in order to pay the merchants who financed their trip.

What were the relationships between the Pilgrims and the Indians? Meet the chiefs and warriors of the neighboring tribes, learn about their internal conflicts and leadership issues, and learn how the Pilgrims formed alliances and partnerships with some and fought others, while staying true to their founding ideals.

How did the Pilgrims become prosperous? Watch as the colonist finally(!) overthrow the "communal" idea of distributing food, and instead adopt the ownership idea of private property to feed themselves. It meant the end of the starving time and the beginning of the strength of America.

This book is told with a quick journaling style, occassionally quoting old diaries (and keeping old spelling and phrasing in those sections. It takes you into the mindset of the Pilgrims, and it gives a good look at how brave the colonists were.

This book is for older children (upper grades) who can handle the language and understand the shifting perspectives. Children need a level of familiarity with the Pilgrims and other early North American colonies before they tackle this one. Some things we have read:

"The First Thanksgiving (step 3)" by Linda Hayward
"The Thanksgiving Story" by Alice Dalgliesh
"Corn is Maize" by Aliki
"Across the Wide, Dark Sea" by Jean Van Leeuwen
"Squanto's Journey" by Joseph Bruchac
"P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet" by Carol Crane
"You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower!" by Peter Cook (give it a try)
"Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims" by Clyde Robert Bulla
"The Voyage of the Mayflower (Graphic History)" by Allison Lassieur
"If you were..." books
"The Magic School Bus at The First Thanksgiving" by Joanna Cole
"Who's Saying What in Jamestown, Thomas Savage" by Jean Fritz (about Jamestown Colony, not Plymouth, but shows life in early colonies -- and the dangers of the environment and the Indians)
"Who's that Stepping on Plymouth Rock?" by Jean Fritz (more about the Rock than the colonists)
"The Lost Colony of Roanoke" by Jean Fritz
"Roanoke: Mystery from History: by Jane Yolen

It was very imformative. Caused me to be very appreative of the pigrims for all they had to endure. we take our freedom to worship God so casually. It meant the world to them.

This was a fantastic book. Good reading level for 3 - 4 graders, very good historical context. Probably the best book on the history of the pilgrims that I have read so far.