Historical Fiction: Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation

Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation

By: Diane Stanley

Illustrated by: Holly Berry

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grades: 2-4

            Take a trip back in time with the Time-Traveling Twins and eat with them and the Pilgrims while learning about how Thanksgiving dinner came to be.  Grandma puts on her magic hat and takes us back in time to the start of Plymouth Plantation to learn all about the Pilgrims, in Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation.

Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation is written by Diane Stanley and illustrated by Holly Berry.  It is a historical fictional story about the first pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower and the truth about the first Thanksgiving.  The story of the twins traveling back in time with their grandmother is obviously not real, but the family teaches us some very important facts on their trip back to 1621. 

Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation is a fun way to teach students about the actual first Thanksgiving that took place and also about the hardships that the Pilgrims went through when they first arrived in America.  The story is historical fiction because it is a fictional story with accurate historical facts about Plymouth Plantation.  At the end of the story, the author offers text in a box that explains how the first Thanksgiving came to be and cited where she found her information.

I liked this story because it made learning about the Pilgrims fun and interesting.  Making it a time traveling story made it more adventurous. I would definitely keep this book in my classroom as a way of learning when it comes to talking about the first settlers.

Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation follows Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks 8: Understanding a Text, 9: Making Connections, and 10: Genre.  Students will be able to understand the information presented to them based on the time period it is set it and will have an understanding of the factual evidence in the story about the Pilgrims.