My First Thanksgiving

by Tomie dePaola

Book Overview

In this delightful board book, dePaola introduces Thanksgiving to young children with spare text and his signature illustrations. This reissued board book features a 3-D effect on the cover and a larger size. Full color.

• Format: Board book
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399223274
• ISBN13: 9780399223273
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 12 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.0" x 7.4"
• Age Range: 2 to 6 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 1

Customer Reviews

Do not recommend

It is called My First Thanksgiving, but says ages 3 and up on the back. Also mentioned God and doesn't deal with Native Americans well.

sweet and simple

love the raised cut-out cover. simple pictures and text, good for teaching baby about the holiday.

My First Thanksgiving (Boardbook)

ISBN 0399223274 - Thanksgiving qualifies as the most awkward of holidays for non-religious Americans AND those who seek political correct-ness, so to see how it's addressed in books for children is always interesting. That curiosity, and the attraction of Tomie dePaola as author/illustrator, made choosing this book a no-brainer - and what a good choice it was! The first couple pages are given to the history of Thanksgiving: the pilgrims, thankful to be together in their new home, thank God with a feast that they share with their new friends. The remainder of the book covers Thanksgiving today, from the infamous traced-hand turkeys to mince pie. It is almost impossible to imagine that any book about Thanksgiving can fairly leave out the god that everyone is thanking. In dePaola's book, that's definitely god-capital-G, mentioned only one time, but those who don't believe in that god may want to skip this book. For the politically correct adult crowd, there's an awkward moment: The pilgrims' friends come with food for the feast. They are not identified as Indians, the correct term for the time, but not PC. They are not identified as Native Americans, the PC term that the pilgrims wouldn't recognize. They are simply called friends, but clearly illustrated as Indians. It's a weird-feeling attempt to dance around the issue and, while adults can't help but notice it, kids are not likely to care. The illustrations are, as in most board books, at least half of the story. These are excellent. The ones of the pilgrims' time are simple and without a lot of background detail, while the present-day images are much busier. That's a nice, realistic touch, but there is one oddity: the pilgrims and their friends are all adults, there's not a kid in sight! This one is a very basic, easy to understand, introduction to the holiday and well worth sharing with your child. - AnnaLovesBooks

sweet and simple

This is a great first book for introducing Thanksgiving. I have used it many years in my preschool classroom. It has simple text and bold pictures that show both historical and modern day images of the Thanksgiving celebration that young kids can easily understand. After a few reads, my preschool kids would read the book themselves, remembering the words as they looked at the pictures.

Thanksgiving for little ones!

This beautiful board book by Tomie DePaola is one in a series that captures a wide range of holidays for young children. I am a big fan of the author and love the sensitivity of his art work and his writing. A great way to bring the idea of Thanksgiving to the little ones without being pompous or overly long...Highly recommended!

Thanksgiving story

I wanted a simple book to teach my 2 year old the Thanksgiving story. This is perfect. Attractive illustrations, simple narration. Perfect for a toddler.