This First Thanksgiving Day by Laura Krause Melmed is a counting and rhyming poetry book about the Wampanoag and Pilgrims preparation for their first Thanksgiving. When I was reading this book, I found myself singing to the same tune as “12 days of Christmas.” I personally didn’t care for the pictures in the book because they all look like children. ( )

This First Thanksgiving Day is a counting story. The book uses rhyming to tell the story. I like that one number would represent the pilgrims and the next number would represent the Indians. Each number showed the differences in how the pilgrims and Indians prepared for the Thanksgiving feast. In the end, they all came together and enjoyed all the food they found and prepared. The illustrations were detailed, bright, and took up the whole page. The illustrator said he hid a turkey in each page and other fun surprises. I liked that he did this because it allows the students to pay attention to the words on the page and the pictures. It's a fun activity to do while reading. ( )

This first Thanksgiving Day is a counting story. It begins by telling you all the different chores the Indians and Pilgrims do.They describe a little boy dressed in linen and two little girls dressed in deerskin. I feel like in the story they are showing both sides, the Indians side and the pilgrims. They are also showing the hard work they do that led up to the special first Thanksgiving. I like this book because it is good way to teacher children how Thanksgiving began. ( )

Loved it, the counting!! ( )

This book starts with just one pilgrim, and each page following the number of settlers or Native Americans preparing for the final harvest increases. Each number is told through an ABCB poem format. This book is intended for 3-8 year olds and will give them a sense of community and show them benefits of working together as they count along.