by Molly McGuire

Created on: November 05, 2009

A Unique Thanksgiving Book for Youngsters

What did you learn about the first Thanksgiving in school? Your teacher probably told about the Pilgrims, religious refugees from England, and that fabled feast they shared amicably with the Indians to thank them for their invaluable help through the hard times of that first dismal winter. That is all true, but one recent book offers youngsters a different view.

Robyn Gioia's informative book, "America's REAL First Thanksgiving,"(Pineapple Press, 2007) is a new twist on the old tale. When Florida elementary teacher and author Gioia attended a weeklong conference, she learned of an earlier thanksgiving that happened in 1565, in her town of St. Augustine, 56 years before the Pilgrim's later 1621 banquet in Plymouth. The lecturer was Florida historian Michael Gannon, telling his favorite story of the first New World Thanksgiving feast, celebrated in the oldest U.S. town, St. Augustine. She quickly realized that this was not even mentioned in St. Augustine, a town that is famous for its history.

The revelation piqued Gioa's curiosity, so she decided to set the record straight with her own story of this Florida Thanksgiving for her students. Written for young readers ages 9 to 12, it tells of the Thanksgiving feast on September 8, 1565, when Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the Spanish governor of La Florida, celebrated with the 300 new Spanish arrivals and the local Timucuan Indians at St. Augustine. The book is filled with colorful pictures of Florida's native people, swashbuckling conquistadors, and Spanish galleons at full mast. Maps of the period, as well as information about other Spanish explorers who came to North America, combine in this excellent history of life and the early explorations in La Florida that predated the British settlements. There are even maps of the Spanish treasure fleet, and beautiful illustrations by well-known Florida artists: Frank Suddeth, a St. Augustine historian, Robert Deaton, a historical artist from the Florida Museum of Natural History in Tallahassee, and Theodore Morris, a St. Augustine artist who specializes in painting Florida's Indians who were present when the Spanish arrived. There is also a separate teacher's manual available with games, crossword puzzles, and coloring pages to help teach the story.

And if you want to know what they ate at this St. Augustine feast, Gioia describes the menu of cocibe, a garlicky stew of garbanzo beans and salt pork, with sea biscuits and red wine. According to Gioia, they probably also ate some venison, alligator, and local fowl, such as wild turkey or other bird, brought by the Timucans, along with local squash and yams. In case someone wants to try it, she even gives a recipe for cocibe, which she cooks each September 8 for her own family.

Gioia, who teaches at Bolles School in Ponte Verda, just north of St. Augustine, became interested in children's literature while living in England, and writes reviews for the School Library Journal. "The REAL First Thanksgiving" was displayed in the Florida Governor's Mansion library. So, if you're in the market for a unique approach to the Thanksgiving story, here's a new perspective that might give you a new holiday.

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