Thanksgiving on Thursday

This Magic Tree House novel follows eight-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister, Annie, as they travel back in time to the 1621 harvest feast at Plymouth Colony, an event traditionally regarded as the first Thanksgiving.

On a morning in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, Jack and Annie are preparing to visit their grandmother for Thanksgiving when Annie senses that the magic tree house has returned to the woods. The tree house, which belongs to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian from the legendary kingdom of Camelot, can transport the children to any place or time depicted in its books. Inside, they find a note from Morgan instructing them to find a special magic, guided by a rhyme: "To find a special magic, / When work and toil are done, / Gather all together, / Turn three worlds into one" (6). Beside the note is a book called A Feast to Remember. Annie points to the cover and wishes to go there before Jack can ask questions. The tree house spins and carries them away.

They arrive wearing Pilgrim clothing, the tree house perched in an oak at the edge of a forest overlooking a small village by the ocean. Jack reads that 102 passengers sailed from England aboard the Mayflower in 1620, seeking religious freedom and a new life. A storm blew them north to a bay called Plymouth. Annie realizes they have landed at the site of the first Thanksgiving.

They creep closer to watch the village, but a dog spots them and barks. As Jack tries to retreat, he steps into a hunting trap and is yanked upside down by a rope around his ankle. Pilgrim men cut the rope and lower him safely. Dozens of Pilgrims gather around them, along with a man whom Jack suspects is Squanto, a member of the Wampanoag, the Native people living near Plymouth, known for helping the Pilgrims. Governor Bradford greets the children warmly, while Captain Standish, carrying a musket, is more suspicious. Annie meets Priscilla, a Pilgrim young woman of about seventeen or eighteen whose face looks weary and sad.

When Captain Standish asks where the children come from, Jack improvises, claiming they live in a village up north, that their parents sent them to learn to grow corn, and that they sailed to America as babies with Captain John Smith. Governor Bradford asks Squanto if he remembers them. Squanto studies their faces and quietly says yes, relieving Jack's anxiety.

A boy announces that Chief Massasoit has arrived with ninety Wampanoag men for the harvest feast, far more than expected. Priscilla explains that they have not prepared enough food. Governor Bradford organizes additional preparations, and Priscilla assigns tasks to the children. She asks Jack if he wants to go fowling, meaning hunting water birds. Annie quickly claims they catch fish, so Priscilla gives them a basket and sends them to gather eels and clams.

At the shore, Jack reads that Squanto taught the Pilgrims to push eels out of wet sand with their bare feet. Jack feels an eel with his toes and grabs it, but the slimy creature squirms free, and both children tumble into the cold water. They give up on eels. Annie refuses to dig for quahog clams after reading they can live for nearly one hundred years. Jack reads about how hard Pilgrim children worked and concludes that he and Annie would make poor Pilgrim children. Priscilla finds them wet and cold with an empty basket.

Priscilla laughs at their excuses and invites them to warm up at her house, sharing vegetables so they will not return empty-handed. Inside her small, smoky home, a turkey roasts on an iron rod called a spit. Priscilla asks them to stir corn pudding, move roots near the ashes, and add herbs to the chowder. Jack and Annie consult the research book to learn that "roots" means underground vegetables like carrots and turnips. They complete these tasks successfully. Priscilla then shares that Squanto saved the Pilgrims during a terrible first winter when half their people died of sickness, including her own mother, father, and brother. Annie puts her arm around Priscilla. Priscilla says they never gave up hope and now have a good harvest and peace with their neighbors. Jack reflects that Priscilla is not only kind but incredibly brave.

Priscilla leads them to a field where Captain Standish is about to lead the men in "exercising their arms" (47). Jack takes this literally and begins stretching and flapping his arms. Priscilla bursts out laughing. A loud bang reveals the real meaning: The men are firing their muskets, also called "arms." Jack blushes, but Priscilla thanks him sincerely, saying she has not laughed hard in a long time. She asks them to remove the turkey from the spit and bring it to the feast tables.

Back in Priscilla's house, Jack grabs the spit handle but burns his hand on the hot metal. He knocks the spit off its legs, sending the turkey into the fire, where grease causes it to burst into flames. Jack douses the fire with water, but the turkey is ruined. He is devastated, believing he has wrecked the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving. Priscilla calmly leads them outside and shows them the abundance of food the community has prepared: roasted ducks, turkeys, and deer; fish, lobsters, eels, and oysters; pumpkins, beans, corn, soups, puddings, and bread. The Wampanoag hunters also brought back five deer. Priscilla kneels and tells Jack he did not ruin anything, and that he and Annie helped her by making her laugh and acting with kind hearts.

The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag gather at long tables in the golden autumn light. Governor Bradford gives thanks for Squanto, for peace with the Wampanoag, and for all their blessings. He looks at Jack and Annie and declares that three worlds, theirs, the Pilgrims', and the Wampanoag's, "are not three. They are one," calling it "the magic of community" (60). Annie whispers to Jack that they have found the special magic from Morgan's rhyme. Jack insists they eat first. They try everything, though Jack skips some eel and two clams. Jack reflects that food tastes especially good when eaten outside, on a beautiful day, with nice people.

After the feast, Jack and Annie say goodbye to Priscilla. Annie kisses Priscilla on the cheek, and Priscilla kisses Jack's cheek in return, making him blush. When a young Pilgrim girl named Mary protests that no one has taught them to grow corn, Squanto offers to walk them to the forest. He instructs them to plant corn in spring when the oak-tree bud is as small as a mouse's ear, placing fish and seeds in each hole. He gives them a pouch of corn seeds.

Annie asks Squanto why he said he remembered them. He explains that he remembered what it was like to be from a different world. Long ago, men came in ships and took him to Europe, where he was enslaved. He was a stranger who felt different and afraid, and he saw the same fear in Jack and Annie's eyes. He tells them they must always be kind to those who feel different and afraid. Jack writes this lesson in his notebook.

They run back to the tree house and wish themselves home. Back in Frog Creek, no time has passed. Annie places the corn seeds alongside their proof items from earlier adventures. Walking home, they reflect on how hard Pilgrim children's lives were. Annie says that if the Pilgrims could be so thankful despite their hardships, she and Jack should be really thankful. Jack agrees, adding "really, really thankful" (73). Together they head home to celebrate Thanksgiving at their grandmother's house.