Mayflower: The Ship That Started a Nation, successfully sails and more

The first Thanksgiving was a good 399 years ago. It’s one of those holidays that elementary kids know the basics, but may not the reasons or its history. They know that they’re eating at the small table, part of the extended family will gather in one location, crafts are done, and sometimes football is watched. Our kids know the main vocabulary words like pilgrims, Indians, the Mayflower, and maybe where they landed. Mayflower: The Ship That Started a Nation is an illustrated book that can change that to some degree.

This is a very smart illustrated book that works for elementary school students who are just learning about their voyage, as well as, those early middle school students who want to dive deeper into the story. Those older readers will immediately notice the quality of the book. The spine, front, and back cover are thicker than what they’d expect. The art is gorgeous and looks like something that they’d see in a museum, and ‘Mayflower’ on the front cover is embossed in bright, shiny red letters.

The illustrations from Michael Lauritano and Mike Love look as comfortable in the book as they would on your wall. Rebecca Siegel is the author and provides a very personal note in the back of the book. Her husband is a descendent of one of the passengers who was on the Mayflower. John Howland traveled over on the ship and has the distinction of falling overboard and then thankfully being rescued. You can read an overview of his adventure on pages 30-31.

Mayflower does a great job of letting readers know why they chose to leave England for the dangerous trek across the Atlantic. Sure, some students will know that it was for religious freedom, but the process of organizing the ships, life on them during the crossing, and the uncertainty of what lay ahead of them once they hit Cape Cod was arduous. The book’s text is broken out into one main short paragraph and then two to four longer paragraphs that are written in smaller font.

This is a very clever way to let readers dig in for more information. They get the high-level overview that baits their interest and they’re then curious to read more specifics about that aspect of the trip. Those longer paragraphs answer questions that readers will have and provide details into what must’ve been going through their heads. There are also two pages dedicated to the first Thanksgiving. This comes towards the end of the book and serves as a conclusion to part of the story. I say part because Mayflower: The Ship That Started a Nation isn’t exclusively about that holiday that falls on the fourth Thursday in November.

Instead, it’s a historical look at some of the details that confronted the pilgrims. It’s as much of an adventure tale, as it is about discovery, the native population, and more. The illustrations help move the story and the text sets up snippets of pilgrim life that we can learn while enjoying today’s creature comforts

It’s worth noting that Mayflower: The Ship That Started a Nation is published by Words & Pictures, an imprint of Quarto Publishing. We’ve reviewed a handful of books from Words & Pictures and their quality is incredibly consistent. They produce high quality, non-fiction illustrated books that aim high to entertain and educate. It’s one of the publishers, in our mind, that has joined Graphix and :01 First Second as releasing a book that’s worth reading every time.

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