Customer Reviews

My First Thanksgiving

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

ISBN 0399223274 - Thanksgiving qualifies as the most awkward of holidays for non-religious Americans AND those who seek political correct-ness, so to see how it's addressed in books for children is always interesting. That curiosity, and the attraction of Tomie dePaola as author/illustrator, made choosing this book a no-brainer - and what a good choice it was!

The first couple pages are given to the history of Thanksgiving: the pilgrims, thankful to be together in their new home, thank God with a feast that they share with their new friends. The remainder of the book covers Thanksgiving today, from the infamous traced-hand turkeys to mince pie.

It is almost impossible to imagine that any book about Thanksgiving can fairly leave out the god that everyone is thanking. In dePaola's book, that's definitely god-capital-G, mentioned only one time, but those who don't believe in that god may want to skip this book. For the politically correct adult crowd, there's an awkward moment: The pilgrims' friends come with food for the feast. They are not identified as Indians, the correct term for the time, but not PC. They are not identified as Native Americans, the PC term that the pilgrims wouldn't recognize. They are simply called friends, but clearly illustrated as Indians. It's a weird-feeling attempt to dance around the issue and, while adults can't help but notice it, kids are not likely to care.

The illustrations are, as in most board books, at least half of the story. These are excellent. The ones of the pilgrims' time are simple and without a lot of background detail, while the present-day images are much busier. That's a nice, realistic touch, but there is one oddity: the pilgrims and their friends are all adults, there's not a kid in sight! This one is a very basic, easy to understand, introduction to the holiday and well worth sharing with your child.

- AnnaLovesBooks

This is a great first book for introducing Thanksgiving. I have used it many years in my preschool classroom. It has simple text and bold pictures that show both historical and modern day images of the Thanksgiving celebration that young kids can easily understand. After a few reads, my preschool kids would read the book themselves, remembering the words as they looked at the pictures.

This beautiful board book by Tomie DePaola is one in a series that captures a wide range of holidays for young children. I am a big fan of the author and love the sensitivity of his art work and his writing. A great way to bring the idea of Thanksgiving to the little ones without being pompous or overly long...Highly recommended!

My daughter (12 months) LOVED the "My First Halloween" book by this author so much that I had to order "My First Thanksgiving" AND "My First Christmas" right away. The Halloween and Christmas books are much more colorful and festive for little children. The Thanksgiving book was a nice quality with beautiful pictures... but I do feel that it was lacking in the attention grabbing quality that the other two possess. I am glad to have it in my collection, but unless you were interested in this series I would choose another book just for Thanksgiving.

I received my item in a very timely manner and it was in perfect condition. My book arrived much sooner that I thought it would.

I purchased this book for preschool children in my book club. We all enjoyed reading it together. Just the right book for little ones to take home.

love the raised cut-out cover. simple pictures and text, good for teaching baby about the holiday.

I wanted a simple book to teach my 2 year old the Thanksgiving story. This is perfect. Attractive illustrations, simple narration. Perfect for a toddler.