A good history from the perspective of the Natives. It is usually a combined history, of both pilgrims and natives. It was refreshing to hear this side of it. The pictures were beautiful and inspiring. It will be a great book to have on the shelf for my kiddos!

The written version of one of the stories Wampanoag Tribes told their children, about the newcomers who came to America and learn new tradition of Thanksgiving introduced by the tribe. The Indian tribe has this wonderful story of the three sisters: corn, beans and squash, that they cultivate and consume since the beginning. And this tradition was passed on the newcomers to survive the land. Interesting story, moreover for us who lived far from the Indians, to learn more about them and their history.

A lovely story featuring the Three Sisters and the first American Thanksgiving from the perspective of the indigenous peoples. This is an excellent alternative version to the traditional one told, showing that just like everything in this world there is always two sides to every story. A glossary and pronunciation guide are included.

A must have for your library. Keepunumuk is a story of the first Thanksgiving told from a Native American perspective. Wampanoag words and storytelling format are used. A language guide is provided. This book also includes some information about Wampanoag tribes, language, and includes a recipe. The illustrations are beautiful.
In my opinion, this story is a good introduction to history. It is written in a way that is sensitive to young kids and can be used as a conversation starter.

This was a beautiful story about the "First Thanksgiving" or Keepunumuk (the time of harvest) told from a First Peoples perspective. I had heard about the three sisters before this book in another book written by an Indigenous author; there is so much we can learn about working harmoniously with the land from Indigenous communities.
I thought the story was told beautifully and I enjoyed learning about Weeachumun through this Wampanoag story.

In America, the story of the first Thanksgiving is drilled into our heads from childhood, so it is great that this book takes the view of the native people, the Weeachumun, the People of the First Light, who were living there first.

Without their help, the people known as the Pilgrims would have all died of starvation. This book celebrates how the people and the plants and the animals came together to help these people, and thus give them food to celebrate with.

Beautiful retelling, though sad at the same time.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

This is story about the celebration of Thanksgiving and its origins. It is fascinating and important to learn that from the perspective of Native Americans it isn’t always considered a celebration. There is plenty here to stimulate discussions with children. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is engaging. I would have liked to hear more about the reasons for some calling it a day of mourning. The wopanaak words, the tribe map and the recipe were great additions. Thank you to the authors, NetGalley and Charlesbridge for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully illustrated picture book depicting the first Thanksgiving through traditional story telling. The author’s use of the First Peoples’ perspective is appreciated and leaves plenty of room for open discussion.

This book was a great starting point for discussing colonization from the Indigenous perspective and provides great information surrounding how the Indigenous people saw their land. It provides Indigenous words and specifies the nation in which the story takes place. This book is beautifully pictured and written. can be used for any age group - not just the younger children. Though this story slightly differs from the Indigenous people of Canada, I would still use this in a classroom and perhaps plan an activity for comparing and contrasting the differences we see in this book to what the Canadian Indigenous people went through.

Beautifully written. I enjoyed reading a different perspective than what we are usually taught in schools and it was so refreshing! Definitely will be looking to add to our collection

This is a fantastic book! A much needed perspective of thanksgiving that doesn’t center on or turn a blind eye to colonization. As an indigenous person, I was excited that the story retained a lot of the elements of oral storytelling and that “native” language and concepts were used in the book. A must have for any library collection and a great addition to personal collections as well.

Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story
by Danielle Greendeer
Looking at the historical story from the native perspective. It is amazing how it looks at the cultural differences and history. Its another point of view. I hope that it helps students to understand more of the original story.

This is a fantastic take on the Thanksgiving story from the side that we generally don't hear about. I love the honesty of it; the story isn't unfair or unrealistically portrayed. The art is also fantastic! If you're teaching the OG Thanksgiving story, you have to have this book and share it with kids and students.

Keepunumuk is the name and story of the first harvest meal shared between the Native Americans and European settlers.

It tells how the plants and animals watched the struggle of the settlers and decided they should sent the Native people to help.

The extras showing where the tribes lived on a map we recognize, the meaning of words, and some history are all very nice bonuses.

This book offers another way to tell the traditional Thanksgiving story from a Native perspective.

This is a really strong picture book with excellent storytelling and earthy tones illustrations that support understanding for littles. This is a Thanksgiving story that we need, perfect for preschool and kindergarten, as we teach students “whose voice is being heard?” and to hear multiple perspectives. I love the way the end of the book includes recipes and other supports for delving into Wampanoag culture.

A sweet story of the first thanksgiving told from the eyes of first nation peoples.
Lovely illustrations depicting how nature and mother earth impact our everyday lives and survival

This book tells the story of Thanksgiving from an Indigenous perspective. It teaches the story of how Indigenous peoples sacrificed their own food supply to teach the newcomers how to survive on the land. A few of the things I loved about this book was how it touched on different parts of the culture such as the creator speaking to them in their dreams, and how the seeds were speaking to the newcomers but they couldn’t hear them. I also loved how in the beginning it provided the meaning and pronunciation of the Indigenous words that were used. This book would be a great resource for teachers during thanksgiving time, or when discussing Indigenous issues. The authors provide in the end even a traditional recipe that could be made.

“Keepunumuk” is a retelling of the story of the first Thanksgiving. When Quill and Maple ask their grandmother, N8hkumuhs, for a story, she gives them this tale. N8hkumuhs tells a story of Weachumun (Corn) and fellow food and animal spirits banding together to help newcomers to their land. A new group of people called “Pilgrims” have come over the sea to live, and they are starving. Weaachumun and her compatriots send the First Peoples to teach the Pilgrims how to live.

“‘Sometimes new people can seem scary,’ Rabbit said. ‘The Creator tells us to help all living things. This is how the world works.’ ‘Yes!’ Duck and Turkey agreed. ‘It’s settled’ said Weaachumun. ‘We will send the First Peoples to help the newcomers.'”

A man named Tisquantum comes to the Pilgrims and teaches them how to grow corn, beans, and squash together. Soon the people are full and prospering. When harvest time comes they hold a special feast of thanksgiving and invite the First Peoples to join them.

“Keepunumuk” was written by a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, the tribe the book is about. The book contains words of the original language, Wopanaak, and states that that language is spoken “in the past and still today”. This reminds readers that Native people are still here. Another plus along the same line is that N8hkumuhs and her grandchildren are painted with a mixture of contemporary and traditional dress.

Unfortunately, despite all the pros for reading it, this book has some glaring cons. To start with, just from a writing perspective, the book sounds a little forced. It sounds choppy and doesn’t flow as well as it might. This could easily be forgiven, but there are greater issues. The writer of “Keepunumuk” herself states that “this book is a new story”, a version of the first Thanksgiving based, not on fact and not on Wampanoag oral tradition, but instead on traditional Wampanoag spiritual belief systems. This means that the book is basically a fictional story written with respect towards Wampanoag spirituality and with a few historical facts sprinkled in.

This writing decision seems a poor choice when dealing with such an important story. Thanksgiving is a debated holiday, for some a very tragic holiday. The author briefly alludes to this when she mentions that, for some, Thanksgiving is a “day of mourning”. But she never really digs in and reveals the problems and controversies surrounding Thanksgiving. This attempt to rewrite history, however well meaning, seems to be not only unwise, but hurtful to the many sufferers who were and are affected by the tragedies surrounding this holiday.

[Content Warning: Throughout the book, Corn [Weeachumun], Beans, and Squash are personified as spirits, as are all the animals. At one point, they send dreams with messages to people. In the afterword of the book the author mentions guardian spirits and then brings up something called a “Spirit Plate”. She suggest that her readers do as the Wampanoags did and, when they eat, make a plate of small amounts of each kind of food and leave it outside for the spirits.]

In summary, I cannot recommend this book. With the rewriting of history and then the spiritual content, I don’t see enough to redeem the reading of it.

This is an awesome alternative children's book for Thanksgiving, and I can't wait to stock it in the store I work at during the holidays. I will say, though, to echo another reviewer, that the way the Pilgrims were depicted as neutral, or even nice/positive, was...a choice. I get that this is for young kids, but I do think that this book's very subtle hints at future violence weren't quite enough.

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

4/5 - Really liked it.

I'm really glad to see more children's and YA books that deal with the true history of the United States. Keepunumuk is a fantastic book for many reasons - the story retells the tradition of Thanksgiving but does so from a First People perspective, in the style of a First Nation myth. The narrative does not shy away from using words from the Wampanoag language, which both preserves the language for children of that nationality and also allows children from other groups to better grasp that there are real people who were impacted by the legacy of colonialism. The narrative also brings up the fact that Thanksgiving is a day of great mourning for many Native Americans - which is an important fact.

Overall, I think this would be a great book to add to children's libraries worldwide and I am deeply appreciative of the fact that it was written and illustrated by Native Americans.