Our America...The Pilgrim Adventure

Recently I was given the chance to read Our America...The Pilgrim Adventure by Susan Kilbride. I will copy/paste the summary and review I did from Homeschoolliterature.com.

Summary-


Finn and Ginny's parents are lost back in time, and the two young twins have decided to go back to early America to find them. Their search takes the twins to the Mayflower where they discover that the Pilgrims had far more adventures than they had ever realized. This first book in the Our America series is designed to teach the real story of the Pilgrims in such a fun way that the reader won't even realize that it's educational. "The Pilgrim Adventure" is based on actual accounts written by the Pilgrims themselves, and kids who read this book will find that by the end of the story they may know more about the Pilgrim's adventures than their parents do.

Joy's Review-


"The Pilgrim Adventure" begins its tale with Finn and Ginny living at their aunt and uncle's home in northern Wisconsin. Initially they had traveled there with their parents, to visit the aunt and uncle for Christmas. Since then they had been living there for over a year, since the time when their parents seemingly disappeared into thin air! Understandably upset over their parents vanishing, they decide to investigate what could have possibly happened to them. During their investigation they end up finding an adventure completely their own!


 Susan Kilbride is the author of this thrilling tale that teaches children about history through involving the book characters in the historic saga itself. She is a home educator who wanted to find a way to pique the interest of a child to learn more about history. I really wish I would have had this type of historical fiction available when I was a child, as hearing your teacher read out of a text book did nothing to stir an interest in history for me.


I love how Finn and Ginny become a part of the story and participate in the unfolding of the pilgrim's experiences when they arrive at Plymouth. I found myself while reading it, forgetting that it was also educational! An especially nice fact about this book is that the author obviously knows her facts on the pilgrims and Mayflower. Included in the list of characters in the book are such people as Captain Miles Standish, William Bradford Mary Chilton, William Brewster, and John Carver. She very effectively brings these people to life in an interesting way for the reader.


My 10 year old daughter also enjoyed reading "The Pilgrim Adventure". She is an avid reader and likes adventure books especially. She found that the book really described how hard the pilgrims had it with sickness, not enough food, and people on board fighting. She has always enjoyed learning about Indians and this tale tells about how the Indians and Pilgrims interacted with each other with their initial meeting.


I would definitely recommend this book for readers 10 and up but also think younger children would be interested in the story being read to them. This book would be a fun way to incorporate fiction in with a child's history curriculum.


She also has a website with activities to go along with the book.
A couple of weeks ago I was able to do an interview with the author. (ah the joys of the computer world ;) It was so much fun! I would love for you to go see my interview with Susan Kilbride.

Speaking of literature (one of my favorite topics btw) I want to mention that there are many free literature games and activities to go along with popular classics on this fun website. Some of the book titles are -Harry Potter,Huckleberry Finn, and Gulliver's Travels.

Happy Reading!!