I keep sorting and re-sorting the new books on (and around) my desk and this stack of Pilgrim and Nautical themes is the result.
Mayflower 1620 is a remarkable photographic recreation of the voyage of the Pilgrims from Plymouth, England to Plimoth Plantation, New England. In 2001, a group of well-trained volunteers (in meticulous period costumes) from Plimoth Plantation sailed the Mayflower II from Plymouth to Boston. National Geographic sent along a team of photographers specifically to create the photographs for this book. The result is a rich photographic reproduction of what the 1620 voyage must have been like. From the loading of supplies and cargo to the sighting of land 2 months later, we get an acute sense of what shipboard life was like (very cramped and uncomfortable). There is even a mention of my unfortunate ancestor, John Howland, who was swept overboard, and then miraculously saved! Text is middle school & up. Mayflower 1620 is a paperback, 47 pages of photographs $6.95 from Greenleaf.
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving is a photographic recreation of the First Thanksgiving by the same National Geographic team of photographers who did Mayflower 1620, using again, the resources of the living history museum and re-enactors of Plimoth Village, augmented by 90 Wampanoag Indian descendants. The text leans a bit towards the revisionist side in its attempt to correct the mythologies of the First Thanksgiving, but is generally factually correct. And the pictures are stunning. The First Thanksgiving, on closer examination, turns out to have been not a single meal, but three days of harvest celebration at which the Indians outnumbered the Pilgrims by 2:1. There are two pages of some pretty tempting recipes included – ironically, the Wampanoag dish is based on dried corn pounded to flour – better known to us Southerners as “grits!”
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving is a paperback, 47 pages, full color, $7.95 from Greenleaf Press.
Pilgrims of Plymouth is a picture book for young readers, first through third grades with a simple text and beautiful photographs of typical daily scenes from the life of the settlers in the first few years of the 1620s. There’s a simple explanation of why they left England (so they “could pray in their own way”) and also the attraction that “here, some of them would own farms for the first time.” There’s a special focus on children and a delightful concluding photograph of three children (including this cute guy from the cover), with the text, “The Pilgrims were real people, just like us!” This is definitely a K-3 book, paperback, 16 pages, $5.95 from Greenleaf Press.
Sailing Home is a delightful story about a clipper ship and its captain and his family. It is based on the real ship, John Ena which made 44 voyages between 1896 and 1910 commanded by Captain Mads Albert Madsen who was accompanied by his wife and four children (two of whom were born aboard ship). The ship was impressively large (312 feet long and 48 feet wide), with spacious accommodations for the Captain’s family. And of course, they were homeschooled! (ship-schooled?) Lots of unusual adventures and shipboard games. “Our favorite game was sliding across the main saloon floor in cardboard boxes, crashing into one another as the ship rolled from side to side.” There is also the sobering tale of being caught in a frightening storm – but overall a very interesting read and a celebration of family life around the turn of the century. Its easy to misinterpret the title. It does not refer to sailing towards home, but rather living in a home that sails. Text is upper elementary and up, paperback, 40 pages, color throughout, $6.95 from Greenleaf Press.
The Great Ships is a celebration of famous, historic ships over the past thousand years. “Old sailors know that every ship on the sea has its own personality… In the swift longships of the Vikings and the massive aircraft carriers of today, in humble little caravels and mighty men-of-war, sailors have gone to sea with the urge to roam, to explore, to conquer. It is this spirit of adventure and exploration that has made the great ships great.” The artist has given us vivid illustrations of twenty ships, including: the Gokstad Viking Ship; the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria; Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hind; the Mayflower; Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge; the Bounty; Admiral Nelson’s HMS Victory; “Old Ironsides”; the Amistad; the Monitor; the Titanic; the German battleship Bismarck; and the nuclear aircraft carrier, Enterprise. The Great Ships is paperback, 40 pages, all in color, and $7.95 from Greenleaf Press.
My final book to review is this unusual retelling of the ill-fated Titanic published by Firefly Books. The “unusual” part is the inclusion of items bound into the book, including:
- Tickets
- Postcards
- Newspaper clippings
- Telegrams
- Official technical data
- Envelopes and letters
- Certificate of seaworthiness
and other items as well. The narrative is told from the perspective of a journalist on board the ship. He gives us a thorough tour and introduction to the accommodations for first class, second class, and steerage passengers. The inclusion of so many reproduction artifacts makes this book come alive in a way that others don’t. It’s more than a little spooky to be looking at the illustrations and photographs while holding a ticket, or reading a telegram just sent up from the wireless room. Text is junior high and up, hardback, 26 pages, but with lots of artifacts. Titanic is $19.95 from Greenleaf Press.
It’s been a busy week in Tennessee for homeschoolers. Read the other posts on RedHatRob.wordpress.com to catch up with the antics of the Tennessee legislature.
And if you visit the Greenleaf Press website, please browse around a bit. We have over 1200 items available online now – History, Literature, Art, & Music resources for children and homeschooling families.
– Rob Shearer
Director, Schaeffer Study Center
Publisher, Greenleaf Press
