For our Thanksgiving homeschool unit, we learned more about Squanto by reading Joseph Bruchac’s masterpiece Squanto’s Journey (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2000). Illustrated by Greg Shed, this gorgeously illustrated book tells the story of Thanksgiving from the perspective of a young man who had grown up in the area that became Plymouth Bay.
Squanto was kidnapped and taken to Europe as a young man, and this is his story. Because Bruchac has native heritage, he addressed a needed aspect of the first Thanksgiving: The displaced natives that once lived on the coast of Massachusetts. Squanto’s Journey is my favorite version of the first Thanksgiving and the pilgrims because I feel it is most accurate.
Our homeschool American History learning happened to correlate to the Thanksgiving Holiday! We recently finished learning about the pilgrims, which works out very well for us since we’re taking the next week slow, as a holiday from lots of school work.
