Reviewed by Rethinking Schools
Book Author: Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, Alexis Bunten
In this powerful picture book, N8hkumuhs (NOO-kuh-mus), Grandmother, shares the story “about the time Weeâchumun [corn] asked our Wampanoag ancestors to help the Pilgrims.” Beginning with Seagull announcing the newcomers’ arrival, this story centers plants and animals as N8hkumuhs tells how Weeâchumun, Beans and Squash, and animals Duck, Fox, Rabbit, and Turkey honor their responsibility to help all living things. Through messages sent in dreams, Weeâchumun tells the First Peoples to bring her and her sisters, Beans and Squash, to the newcomers. A wonderful read-aloud for elementary classrooms, this book is an invitation to discuss colonization, perspective, Thanksgiving also as a day of mourning, and the responsibility to help all living things.
Keepunumuk by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, Alexis Bunten
Published by Charlesbridge Publishing on August 2, 2022
Genres: American Indians First Nations Metis Inuit
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Grade K, Grades 1-2
ISBN: 9781632899217
Review Source: Rethinking Schools
Publisher's Synopsis: In this Wampanoag story told in a Native tradition, two kids from the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe learn the story of Weeâchumun (corn) and the first Thanksgiving.
The Thanksgiving story that most Americans know celebrates the Pilgrims. But without members of the Wampanoag tribe who already lived on the land where the Pilgrims settled, the Pilgrims would never have made it through their first winter.
An important picture book honoring both the history and tradition that surrounds the story of the first Thanksgiving.
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