The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World

September 1, 2008
Gr 7 Up-Abridged and adapted from "Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War" (Penguin, 2007), this volume highlights both the Pilgrims' determination to find and settle a home where they could worship freely and the perilous journey that it took to make that happen. In accessible prose, the author shatters the American myth of the landing at Plymouth Rock and the first Thanksgiving, instead describing how the Pilgrims first landed on Cape Cod, finding only sandy soil and seemingly hostile, terrifying natives. They eventually moved on to the shores of Plymouth Bay, encountering a more hospitable environment for settlement. Using William Bradford's "Of Plimoth Plantation" as a primary source of information, Philbrick brings to life many of the major figures from history, including Miles Standish, Benjamin Church, Squanto, and William Bradford himself. The various maps, reproductions of historical documents, photographs of significant locations, and illustrations all come together with the text to help separate fact from legend and create a realistic, readable portrayal of the Pilgrims and their first 50 years in America. General readers and students of American history will find plenty to interest them, as many of the encounters with the Native Americans are of dubious intent and usually quite bloody, though Philbrick is careful not to lay blame on any one group or person. An excellent addition to history collections."Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
In this adaptation of his adult best-seller, Philbrick demythologizes the Pilgrims and Indians story, offering remarkable insight and shaking up assumptions. The compelling narrative is divided into three sections, covering two generations of English-Indian relations and King Philip's War, which decimated New England's Native population. The text is supported by maps, diagrams, archival reproductions, and photographs of artifacts. Reading list, timeline. Bib., ind.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2008
As he did masterfully with Revenge of the Whale (rev. 1/03), Philbrick adapts and abridges (by more than one hundred pages) his 2006 adult bestseller Mayflower for a younger audience. The complex history is challenging, involving a large number of players and spanning most of the seventeenth century. Readers will be rewarded: Philbrick demythologizes the familiar story of the Pilgrims and their Indian neighbors, offering remarkable insight and shaking up readers' assumptions. The compelling narrative is divided into three sections, covering two generations of English-Indian relations. Two-thirds of the book focuses on the settlement's early years -- beginning with events leading up to the Puritan separatists' 1620 voyage to the New World -- when fears and tensions on both sides often threatened to erupt into violence. The picture that emerges is of two vastly different cultures, each of which wisely recognized that its survival depended on a diplomatic relationship with the other. Tragically, this carefully tended peace wasn't honored by the next generation. The book's final section concentrates on a lesser-known part of our nation's history, King Philip's War. Philbrick's exhaustive accounting of the conflict, which decimated New England's Native population, is more military than sociocultural history and less nuanced than the earlier sections; war buffs and those with some prior knowledge of the subject may appreciate the methodical approach, however. The text is ably supported by useful maps, some new diagrams, archival reproductions, photographs of artifacts, and a character list and timeline. A short annotated reading list replaces the almost-thirty-page bibliography of the adult title. Index unseen.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)