“Thanksgiving: The True Story” by Penny Colman.
Christy Ottaviano Books, New York, 2008, 149 pages, Grades 5-8.
Thanksgiving is one of the happiest feasts of the year. It is a time to thank God for the many blessings we have received in the past year. Additionally, Thanksgiving is usually a day of great food, family gatherings and enjoyment.
In the United States, people frequently move at the fervid pace typical of modern society. Thanksgiving lends itself to a more leisurely pace with no rush to eat and hurry off to a meeting or a job. Our meals on this holiday can take from one hour to three hours, with games and activities following. Additionally, there are exciting football games to watch. For many people it becomes a day of sharing and gathering family. But how did this delightful day start? Penny Colman tells us the long and complicated story of this holiday in the book, “Thanksgiving: The True Story.”
Most people identify Thanksgiving with the 1621 Pilgrim and Native American celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts. For this reason, children have dressed up as Pilgrims and Native Americans for decades. Nevertheless, there are many other versions of the American Thanksgiving story. In Florida and parts of the Southwest, there are accounts of Spanish explorers giving “thanks” for having arrived in North America. These Thanksgiving festivals were complete with celebrations of food and games.
Besides Massachusetts, other colonies also claimed to have started thanksgiving celebrations. In different parts of the growing United States various fall celebrations developed to thank God for the fruits of the harvest and to share family love and companionship. So how did all this lead to so many people believing that the 1621 Plymouth Thanksgiving was the original Thanksgiving?
As it turns out, the driving force behind getting Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday was widow named Sarah Hale. Widowed with five children, Sarah became a magazine editor. Her publication was so successful that she was able to support her family from the profits. Having originally been from New England, Mrs. Hale urged her readers to celebrate this New England tradition. Soon she was writing to politicians and recruiting societal figures to gain their assistance in declaring Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
Though unsuccessful in her own lifetime, Hale’s view will ultimately prevail. However, the book is not entirely about happy events. Penny Colman includes what ultimately happened to the original American Indian tribe that shared the feast with the Pilgrims. She also depicts the inaccuracies of little boys dressing up in black hats for Thanksgiving while the little girls wear dour looking dresses. Thanksgiving is much bigger than this limited view. Colman shows how Thanksgiving really became a national holiday. How does she do this?
Why are there so many layers to Thanksgiving? Do people in different parts of the country eat different types of food? What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory? Mine is the taste of pumpkin pie. To find out more about this enjoyable holiday, go to the library and check out “Thanksgiving: The True Story” by Penny Coleman.
The author tells the complicated story of Thanksgiving in this well-written book. The pictures and documents included in the text are quite helpful in explaining the history of the holiday. She is quite honest about the indifference or even hostility that some Native Americans have toward Thanksgiving. However, by dividing the book into a colonial segment, a social movement section that helped create a holiday, and a final part detailing current Thanksgiving customs, she has created a very readable and enjoyable account of this holiday.
I hope you encourage the middle school aged students in your family to read this book. It is comprehensive and very informative. Happy Thanksgiving!
