The Pilgrims of Plimoth [Hardcover]

Marcia Sewall (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1986

"Aye, Governor Bradford calls us pilgrims. We are English and England was our home...But our lives were ruled by King James, and for many years it seemed as though our very hearts were in prison in England..."

"September, 1620, our lives changed. We were seventy menfolk and womenfolk, thirty-two good children, a handful of cocks and hens, and two dogs, gathered together on a dock in Plymouth, England, ready to set sail for America in a small ship called the Mayflower..."

In a text that mirrors their language and thoughts, Marcia Sewall has masterfully recreated the coming of the pilgrims to the New World, and the daily flow of their days during the first years in the colony they called Plimoth. And in stunning, light-filled paintings, she brings to brilliant life that important era in American history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In journal-like passages that include quotes from original sources, Sewall gracefully and unerringly reconstructs the lives of the pilgrims. She takes readers from the journey out of England, financed by English merchants ("hoping to prosper in time by our successful settlement") and to the building of many new townships around the original. The text is broken into sections: Pilgrims, Menfolk, Womenfolk, Children and Youngfolk, Plantation and Glossary. The hustle and bustle of each day is splendidly depicted in Sewall's pictures, which shine with the intensity of morning's first light. Hers are not the gloomy gray pilgrims of other tellings, but robust folk, the only kind who could have survived the settlement process. Squanto teaches them to plant corn "when the oak bud had burst and the leaves were as big as a mouse's ear." Such facts, set like jewels into the text, mark this as the finest of nonfiction, which children will return to, again and again.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2 Up Written as a personal account, Sewall's book not only conveys the spirit and conviction of the Pilgrim experience, but also provides a bounty of historical information and domestic detail about the settlement at Plimoth and the people who survived those arduous first seasons in America. Sewall's extensive research is evident in her text and in the rich, simple oil paintings that reveal so much about the Pilgrims. Her illustrations, somewhat reflective of the American primitive style in the use of flat, thick strokes, are never static. Every scene is charged with energy and movement, depicting the flow of human exchange and relationships. Sewall also makes effective use of double-page space, creating wide-angle scenes, as in a bleak view of winter seen as through a screen of snow, or the overview of the Thanksgiving celebration. By adhering to traditional language and vocabulary (for which there is a glossary at the back), Sewall has captured the dignity of the Pilgrim voice, and lends a quiet, steady rhythm and intensity to the text as the collective "we" is repeated over and over, becoming a litany of events, customs, practices, and beliefs. Sewall's book is educational in the best sense: it is eloquent, evocative, factual, and lovely to behold. This is not a text for very young children (Alice Dalgliesh's The Thanksgiving Story Atheneum, 1954, also from a personal perspective, is more suitable), but even prereaders will respond to the stories so fully developed in these pictures. Susan Powers, Berkeley Carroll Street School, Brooklyn
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689312504
• ISBN-13: 978-0689312502
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,560,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, March 26, 2011

By 

Jules, Homeschool Mom - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pilgrims of Plimoth (Aladdin Picture Books) (Paperback)

It would seem the previous reviewer was reading a bit too hastily, or simply did not understand what she was reading...? The author describes the "strangers" among them as having made the trip for monetary reasons alone, unlike the pilgrims themselves, who came in order to worship freely. Seems like a heck of an intense review, to be made in error like that. A little caution, please, before leaving one star and a scathing report next time? Sheesh.

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb illustrations, December 3, 2011

By 

M. Heiss (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pilgrims of Plimoth (Aladdin Picture Books) (Paperback)

Written in the first person, this book is history with personality. This is fun to read out loud as a family -- the book is packed with "we". This is also fun for acting out scenes as part of a history lesson on Plymouth colony.

6 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Historical Revisionism, May 22, 2010

By 

Tricia G. Fritz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pilgrims of Plimoth (Aladdin Picture Books) (Paperback)

Reading the beginning where the author said the pilgrims came for monetary reasons rather than religious is a historical revisionism statement foresure.

Here is the first document which is called the "MayFlower Compact"... used to help bring into agreement and settle disputes. Here is part of that document

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.

Wow sounds like the author missed the part where they stated "advancement of the Christian faith"