Magic Tree House #27: Thanksgiving on Thursday

I liked it because it contained shooting. Did you know x-raying your arms is really firing your muskets?

This book is useful for teaching K-2nd grades. Jack and Annie travel back to 1621 to watch the first Thanksgiving between pilgrims and indians. They are able to watch how the colonies grew from that moment and they become thankful themselves for the live they are able to lead, without all the

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stuggles the origional settler faced.
* Good book for teaching about Thanksgiving/new colonies
* Students can discuss where they would like to travel back to

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This book is appropriate for grades 2-3. This book has not received any awards. This book is about the history of Thanksgiving and 2 little kids who traveled back in time to 1621, the year when pilgrims and Indians celebrated the first Thanksgiving in the New Plymouth Colony. They meet many early

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settlers and are shown the ins and outs of the first Thanksgiving. When the Thanksgiving feast is over, Jack and Annie return home in their magic tree house. After witnessing the pilgrims' life, they realize they have much to be thankful for. Uses in the classroom for this book would be for the children to make a list of things that they are thankful for in their life. They could create a story or draw a picture that goes along with one thing they are thankful for.

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Summary: Jack and Annie travel back in time to the Pilgrim feast that become the first Thanksgiving. They find themselves out of place in their surroundings, but embrace the opportunity to learn and share before returning home with a small pouch of corn as proof they'd experienced a special kind of

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magic.

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Summary: Jack and Annie are preparing for Thanksgiving dinner with their family. However, before they can partake in their own traditions, they feel the need to check the treehouse. Of course there is another adventure awaiting them. They are taken back in time to the very first Thanksgiving dinner

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with the Pilgrims and the Indians. Here they learn about the true value of thanks, family, and fellowship.

Personal Reaction: As one who has read Magic Treehouse Books for years, I especially loved this particular story. I think it is a good way to teach children that they should be very thankful for the things we often take for granted. The writing is good, but simple enough to read to a grade level as low as first grade.

Classroom Extension: I would have students write a short story as if they were a child lving at the time of the first Thanksgiving. I also might try having the students give a short presentation (show and tell included) about what or who they are thankful for.

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Characters: Jack (8), Annie (7), Priscilla, Squanto, Governor Bradford, Captain Standish, Chief Massasoit

Setting: First Thanksgiving on a Thursday in 1621 at Plymouth Bay

Theme: Thanksgiving, the magic of community, be kind to those who feel different and afraid

Summary: Jack and Annie climb to a

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magic tree house to find a book titled "A Feast to Remember" with a note from Morgan, a magical librarian of Camelot who travels through time and space to gather books. The note hints to find a special magic that turns three worlds into one. With Annie's wish that they could go there, they are whisked to the time when the first Thanksgiving took place, dressed as pilgrims. There they meet historical figures such as Squanto, Governor Bradford, Captain Standish, and Chief Massasoit. With a girl named Priscilla, the children help preparing a feast for 150 Wampanoag men and pilgrims. They don't succeed in catching eels and clams or taking the turkey off the spit, but they try. After enjoying a hearty feast that begun with Governor Bradford's speech which gave thanks for a bountiful harvest after a harsh winter and praised the magic of community that turned "your world, our world, and the world of the Wampanoag" into one, they travel back home with a pouch of corn seeds from Squanto.

Review: It is a great book with which young readers can explore and live vicariously the first Thanksgiving. Students will experience difference in vocabulary, clothing, food gathering and cooking method, and customs. Also, they can compare their lifestyle with that of pilgrim children who usually had a busy, tiring day. Not only does the book encourage good reading habit with interesting plot and engaging characters, it also sheds light on the fact that the 1621 feast was not for giving thanks, but rather a three-day festival celebrating a good harvest. Also, it was touching when Squanto taught the children to be kind to those who feel different and afraid--a concept must be taught especially in California where diversity is ubiquitous and continues to blossom. Furthermore, the book teaches about effectively navigating book with index.

Curriculum ties: Science (weather, growth of plants), history (Thanksgiving and its historical figures, historical background, and origin), language arts (flow chart--how to plant corns, reader's theatre script)

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Still reading along with my nephew. This time they meet Priscilla Mullins and John Alden. The first Thanksgiving was actually a celebration of a shared harvest with the Indians and the Pilgrams. The Indians were kind enough to teach the Pilgrims how to plant corn and pumpkins and how to catch the

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clams. The majority of the Pilgrims died during the first winter after landing, so this truly was a celebration.

Although Jack and Annie do make a mess of what they are asked to do they do go away with an appreciation of the hard work that it took working together to survive.

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Another book in her famous children’s book series, Osborne again gears her historical facts to the adventurous minds of a young child. Jack and Annie are at it again when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back into time to 1621, on the eve of the first Thanksgiving. Upon their arrival,

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they meet the Pilgrims and Squanto, who asks them to help gets things ready. Although there were some slight mishaps in their preparation, they found the essence of community that made that joyous day great. This is a great way to share with children of all ages, especially for assisting elementary school teachers.

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Just a little note: I really like that Priscilla was in this story. She and John Alden are actually ancestors of mine, and this story was the first time I got to introduce my son to them. Very cool. ;-)

Summary:In this book, Jack and Annie travel back to the first Thanksgiving in 1621. When they get to Plymouth, the children claim they came over on the Mayflower too, even though no one remembers them. However, Squanto, a Native America states that he remembers seeing them run through the town

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before. The woman who was questioning that seems to accept it and tells the children to hunt for eels, oysters, and fish. Although the children have never done this before, they still try to figure it out for themselves. Eventually, they meet a woman named Priscilla. Priscilla has the children help with the Thanksgiving feast and even though Jack ruined the turkey, she wasn’t mad because so many other pilgrims had so much food. The children were able to spend the day enjoying the food that they had helped prepare. During this time the Governor gave a speech about what they had to be thankful for, a good harvest even though they had a harsh winter.

Review: I thought this book was a great read, especially with helping children understand how Thanksgiving came to be. Therefore, I think the theme for this book is to inform people why we have Thanksgiving and how important it is to be thankful for what we have. The governor stated that they were feasting because they were thankful for a great harvest even though they had a harsh winter. He also explained how important it was for all of the different worlds, the pilgrims and Native Americans, to come together and to help each other out. Thus, I think this book teaches a lesson on how easy some of us may have it and that we have so much to be thankful for. I also think it gives others an insight on what the conditions were like back in the day and how even the children were expected to help gather and hunt for food. Overall, I thought this book was very informative and a fun way to look at history.

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Before leaving for their Grandmother's for the Thanksgiving holiday, Jack and Annie make a quick visit to the magic tree house and find a message from Camelot librarian Morgan le Fay; she has given the children a third special assignment:
"To find a special magic,
When work and toil are done,
Gather

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all together,
Turn three worlds into one."
With a stroke of magic, Jack and Annie are catapulted to Plymouth Colony; it is now 1621. They are about to take part in the first Thanksgiving. They are assigned such exotic chores as feet-fishing for eels and fowling for water birds; they are quite maladroit at these duties; they realize that Pilgrim children work hard! Captain Standish, Governor Bradford and Squanto are three prominent historical figures that Jack and Annie meet. The children are amazed by the contributions of the Wampanoag Americans to the Pilgrim's success in the new world. Thanksgiving on Thursday is an interesting, informational adventure to Plymouth Colony; this novel is #27 in the Magic Tree House series.

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