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Thunder from the Clear Sky

Name: Thunder from the Clear Sky
Author: Sewall
ISBN: 9780689821769

by Sewall

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Overview

Strange white folk one day shall come across the Great Sea and crowd red men off the earth — so an old sachem warned our people many, many winters ago.

• * • *

It was scarcely three months after we settled at New Plymouth that several red men came to our village in friendship. But how difficult has been our task to civilize them....

This book starts where its companions Pilgrims of Plimoth and People of the Breaking Day left off. This is the story of two peoples meeting, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags, and the eventual clash of their beliefs and cultures. It is a tale of good intentions, misunderstandings, betrayal, and finally of terrible, all-out war, which ultimately destroyed the Native American way of life in New England.

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

What was it like during the early days at Plimoth Plantation? Sewall tells us by presenting both the Native American and Pilgrim perspectives. She sets the stage with the Wampanoag tale that foretells the arrival of white men. Then we learn about the Pilgrims' struggle to survive, and the misunderstandings, treachery, and tragedy on the part of Pilgrims and Native Americans during those tumultuous early years.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-Sewall explores the deteriorating relations between the English settlers in Plymouth and its environs and the native peoples that culminated in King Philip's War and the virtual destruction of the Wampanoags and their allies. As in her previous titles about the settlement of Massachusetts (The Pilgrims of Plimoth [1986] and People of the Breaking Day [1990, Atheneum]), the story is told in the words of fictional participants, in this case the alternating voices of a Wampanoag and a pilgrim. This gives youngsters some insight into the misunderstandings that exacerbated the existing differences. As the crisis escalates, the narrative voices alternate more quickly, creating a sense of movement and tension. Full-page paintings illustrate the text; a map on the endpapers allows readers to locate places mentioned. More detailed accounts of the history covered here can be found for older readers, but Sewall's unique treatment makes the events accessible and provides a new perspective on them. An interesting and attractive addition.-Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA