1. Mayflower: The Ship that Started a Nation, by Rebecca Siegel
“Join the Pilgrims on their perilous journey across the ocean, as they start a new life in North America. This stunning book marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's voyage, with edge-to-edge illustrated scenes, interspersed with detailed maps, inventories and cutaways, along with engaging, narrative text to make this a history book to treasure and pour over time and again.”
2. The Story of the Pilgrims, by Katharine Ross
“From the dangerous voyage across the Atlantic to the first harsh winter to the delicious Thanksgiving feast, all the excitement and wonder of the Pilgrims' first year in America is captured in this vivid retelling for the youngest historians. Colorful and appealing illustrations bring history to life!”
3. The Thanksgiving Story, by Alice Dalgliesh
“In this festive Caldecott Honor–winning picture book, Alice Dalgiesh brings to life the origin of the Thanksgiving holiday for readers of all ages. Giles, Constance and Damaris Hopkins are all passengers aboard the crowded Mayflower, journeying to the New World to start a new life. Things get a little more cramped when their baby brother Oceanus is born during the passage. However, when they arrive, there are even worse challenges to face as the Pilgrims are subjected to hunger, cold, and sickness that put their small colony in great danger. With the help of the Native Americans though, they might just be able to survive their first year in this strange land—and have a November harvest to celebrate for generations!”
4. Squanto’s Journey (The Story of the First Thanksgiving), by Joseph Bruchac
“In 1620 an English ship called the Mayflower landed on the shores inhabited by the Pokanoket, and it was Squanto who welcomed the newcomers and taught them how to survive. When a good harvest was gathered, the people feasted together--a tradition that continues almost four hundred years later.”
5. What Was the First Thanksgiving?, by Joan Holub
“After their first harvest in 1621, the Pilgrims at Plymouth shared a three-day feast with their Native American neighbors. Of course, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag didn’t know it at the time, but they were making history.”
6. William Bradford Pilgrim Boy, by Bradford Smith
“My 8- and 9-year old sons and I really enjoyed this biography of William Bradford. I highly recommend it. There are 14 chapters and we read two to three each night at bedtime. This book tells of William's tumultuous childhood, the struggles he went through to get an education and to go to the church of his choice, and his meeting and connection to the Brewsters which ultimately lead him to America. The last three chapters explain the trials to get to Holland, travel on the Mayflower and ends around the time of the 'first Thanksgiving'. Though I read the book aloud to my sons, I would say the book is simple enough for a 3rd grader to read to himself. William suffered many losses in his life but the hardship seemed to strengthen William's character made him the great, compassionate leader he became.”
7. The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish and the Amazing-but-True Survival Story of Plymouth Colony, by Cheryl Harness
“Say hello to Myles Standish, a fiery man with short legs and an even shorter temper. When he got mad his face turned as red as his hair, earning him the nickname "Captaine Shrimpe." It's a story that has been told for almost 400 years—how a brave band of people set sail on the Mayflower to find a new life in America. By weaving her chatty, narrative text with her incredibly detailed artwork, award-winning author-illustrator Cheryl Harness makes readers feel as though they are part of the adventure.”
8. American Experience: The Pilgrims, by PBS and Ric Burns, DVD
“The Pilgrims narrative has been shrouded in myth, embedded in Thanksgiving Day feasts, football, and parades. Who were the men and women who constituted this band of English Protestants whom we call the Pilgrims? A documentary film by award-winning director Ric Burns, The Pilgrims chronicles the deep history, origins, and critical first decade of the first permanent English colony in New England.”
9. Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1645, Modernized & Abridged, Mayflower Quadricentennial Edition, by William Bradford
“In honor of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's landing at Plymouth in 1620, a new edition of William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation -- the first person narrative account of the Pilgrims adventures and challenges and triumphs during its early years. This edition is derived from the 1890 version published by Effingham, Maynard & Co., which has been abridged and lightly edited to make it more accessible to students and the modern reader, and also includes a brief account of the life of William Bradford from that edition.”
10. The Story of the Mayflower Compact, by Norman Richards
“Searching for religious freedom, Pilgrims flee England on the Mayflower and head for the New World. Led by Miles Standish, they settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620--now free to worship as they please. But how can they survive in this desolate wilderness? There are no towns, no houses, and nobody to help them--they might starve or be killed by Indians! The first winter is hard and many die. This is the story of how a few survive and go on to launch a new form of government which years later will become known as a democracy.”
11. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, by Nathaniel Philbrick
“New York Times Book Review Top Ten books of the Year. With a new preface marking the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. How did America begin? That simple question launches the acclaimed author of In the Hurricane's Eye and Valiant Ambition on an extraordinary journey to understand the truth behind our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. As Philbrick reveals in this electrifying history of the Pilgrims, the story of Plymouth Colony was a fifty-five year epic that began in peril and ended in war. New England erupted into a bloody conflict that nearly wiped out the English colonists and natives alike. These events shaped the existing communities and the country that would grow from them.”
12. The Courtship of Miles Standish, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“The Courtship of Miles Standish is an 1858 narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the early days of Plymouth Colony, the colonial settlement established in America by the Mayflower Pilgrims. The Courtship of Miles Standish is set in the year 1621 against the backdrop of a fierce Indian war and focuses on a love triangle among three Mayflower passengers: Miles Standish, Priscilla Mullins, and John Alden. Longfellow said that the story was true, but the historical evidence is inconclusive.”
13. Plymouth Colony: Its History & People, 1620-1691, by Eugene Aubrey Stratton
“This is the first truly complete treatment of the history and genealogy of Plymouth Colony. It includes a concise history of the colony, both chronologically and topically, and more than 300 biographical sketches of its inhabitants. Richly documented and illustrated with maps and photographs, the three-dimensional Plymouth Colony: Its History & People, 1620-1691 was written for historians and genealogists alike and provides and in-depth view of this important epoch in American history. The researcher will find the verbatim transcriptions of important contemporary documents in the eleven appendices invaluable, and the annotated bibliography clearly describes the abundance of primary and secondary literature on Plymouth Colony. Mr. Stratton's work set a new standard worthy of emulation by all serious scholars.”
14. The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage, and the Founding of America, by Rebecca Fraser
“The voyage of the Mayflower and the founding of Plymouth Colony is one of the seminal events in world history. But the poorly-equipped group of English Puritans who ventured across the Atlantic in the early autumn of 1620 had no sense they would pass into legend. They had eighty casks of butter and two dogs but no cattle for milk, meat, or ploughing. They were ill-prepared for the brutal journey and the new land that few of them could comprehend. But the Mayflower story did not end with these Pilgrims’ arrival on the coast of New England or their first uncertain years as settlers. Rebecca Fraser traces two generations of one ordinary family and their extraordinary response to the challenges of life in America.”
15. Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, MA
“Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known written reference to the rock dates to 1715 when it was described in the town boundary records as "a great rock." The first documented claim that Plymouth Rock was the landing place of the Pilgrims was made by Elder Thomas Faunce in 1741, 121 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth. In 1774, the rock broke in half during an attempt to haul it to Town Square in Plymouth. One portion remained in Town Square and was moved to Pilgrim Hall Museum in 1834. It was rejoined with the other portion of the rock, which was still at its original site on the shore of Plymouth Harbor, in 1880. The rock is now ensconced beneath a granite canopy designed by McKim, Mead & White.”
