“The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple” by Kathryn Lasky.
Scholastic Press, New York, 1996, 174 pages, Grades 3-5.
Each year at Thanksgiving, families gather to celebrate the joyous holiday. For many people this is one of the loveliest days of the year. Fellowships and friendships are shared and a delicious dinner is served.
It is a little hard to remember that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in October 1621. The Pilgrims had just suffered through a brutal winter in 1620 and many of the settlers had died from disease. A friendly Native American named Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to grow maize and successfully fish in the Cape Cod, Massachusetts area.
But the delightful, three-day, first Thanksgiving occurred because of all the suffering the Pilgrims endured. Kathryn Lasky has written an autobiographical account of a young Pilgrim girl coming to the New World. It is filled with pain and suffering; and joy and hope. The name of this fine book is “The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple.”
The North Atlantic enormous waves pound the 90-foot-long Mayflower. It was designed as a cargo ship but has supposedly been converted into a passenger vessel. The immigrants on board soon discover its limitations as they are crowded together under the main deck. There is virtually no sanitation and the food is both meager and unappealing. Most of the passengers become seasick and start vomiting.
Remember Patience Whipple is one of the passengers. She is a Pilgrim. Remember Patience’s parents have fled England because of their desire to escape from the Anglican religion. Having lived in Holland for several years, the Whipples belatedly realize that their children will be more Dutch than English if they stay in Holland. To stop this and to ensure that they will have complete religious freedom, they decide to move to North America and book passage on the Mayflower.
Remember is called “Mem” by her friends. She carefully records events from the voyage in her diary. There is no glamour in the trip. The passengers do not all belong to the same religion and this causes friction. As well, the trip is very arduous and tempers quickly flare among the passengers. More and more, passengers fall ill from the difficult living conditions and some even die.
Hoping to reach Virginia, after weeks of travail, the Pilgrims finally reach North America. But the ship has been blown off course, and they land off of the coast of Massachusetts. To make matter worse, they disembark Dec. 21, 1620. With little food or shelter, the Pilgrims are soon at the mercy of the brutal New England winter.
During the terrible times that follow, Mem writes an account of everything that happens. After months of suffering, the Pilgrims are able to start farming and fishing. Life begins to return to normal. Maybe it is time to thank God for their blessings. What happens next?
Kathryn Lasky is a masterful writer. She tells Mem’s story through her diary. All the Pilgrims’ joys and sorrows are described. Lasky describes the benevolent interactions between some Native American tribes and the Pilgrims. She also writes of militant encounters with some of the tribes. Since this book is written as a diary, it will most likely be appreciated by readers attuned to internal thoughts and emotions. But the sufferings of Pilgrims like Mem, as well as their joys need to be remembered on Thanksgiving. It is all part of our national heritage.
I hope you get a chance to read this fine book and also hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving. A special thanks to Mrs. Fran Ehlers, the librarian at St. Vincent’s Elementary School is Seward for bringing this book to my attention. Have a delightful Thanksgiving!
