This book is a historical piece that explains how Thanksgiving came to be. It then compares the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving in today's society. I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because of the writing style. For instance, "Our Thanksgiving Day is celebrated much like the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving. Some homes are decorated." The fact that they make these comparisons helps engage the reader allows them to make those text to self connections. I did not like this book because of the language. Considering the book was originally published in 1983, some of the language used is not culturally appropriate. For instance, "The Pilgrims invited their Indian friends." In today's society it is considered disrespectful to refer to someone as an "Indian." Instead we use the culturally appropriate term, Native American. The overall idea of this book is to help the reader relate a historical time period to modern day life. ( )

29 months - A very simple history and illustrations in bold colors of why we celebrate Thanksgiving. ( )

In my opinion, this is a good book for young readers to learn about Thanksgiving. I liked the plot of this book because it is organized well. The first half of the story discusses the origins of Thanksgiving and how it became a holiday. The second half of the story is about how Americans celebrate Thanksgiving today. The author transitions to the discussion of present-day Thanksgiving celebrations by stating, “Our Thanksgiving Day is celebrated much like the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving.” I liked the author’s writing as well, particularly with this quote because I felt it was an appropriate way to connect both parts of the book and introduce a new part of the story without jumping right into it from the previous section. I also liked how the author included several different activities Americans partake in to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I liked how the author stressed the true reason of celebrating Thanksgiving: to give thanks. The big idea of this book is to inform readers about the history of Thanksgiving and how it’s celebrated today. ( )

Gail Gibbon's THANKSGIVING DAY is definitely a 'blast from the past'. The color choices of the art plus the fabulous 1980's moustaches sort of date this book.

At the beginning, it's pretty good. It tells in simple words, without a lot of sentences, a simplified story of how the pilgrims came to new continent.

"The Pilgrims wanted to worship God in their own way,
which they had not been allowed to do."

"They left their homes in England and saled across the
ocean to the New World in a ship called the Mayflower."

Where the book falls short is how it goes on (an on) about how we celebrate today. Do we really need a page about lighting candles? Nor a whole page about feature one sentence about a cornucopia?

I like the pages where the author connects our modern celebrations with those of the past, but it's a bit overdone for a book that's written at the 3rd Grade reading level.

'Meh' at best. There are better books to share. ( )

With Gail Gibbons' signature style, this bright picture book tells the highlights of the story of the first Thanksgiving. We learn about why the pilgrims and Native Americans became friends, how they helped each other, and what traditions began that year, 1621.