Molly's Pilgrim

 (14 customer reviews)

Ladies and gentlemen, I come before you today with a confession. I, knowingly and without malice, am a wimp. I am a wimp of the finest pedigree, forged in the wimpy steps of my wimpy forebears. This loathsome quality only cares to show itself in the oddest of moments. Normally, I feel relatively safe reading children's books and, especially, picture books. Certainly the protagonists in these tales have their trials and tribulations to endure, but they usually do so with relative good faith and their enemies are by and large trampled soundly at the end of their tales. Usually. Then there are books like, "Molly's Pilgrim". Ladies and gentlemen, if your child can read through this book in its entirety without feeling overwhelmed by a sense of misery and woe then they're a stronger man or woman than I.

In this classic tale, a little girl named Molly is having problems at school. Her classmates tease her relentlessly, usually making fun of her funny accent and supposed...Read more

The only negative thing I can think of to say about this book is that when I read it aloud, I have a very hard time not crying. It is a short and simple story (longer than a picture book, but an adult can read it aloud in one sitting, and most second or third graders could read it to themselves), but one of the most moving children's books I know of. Molly is a turn of the century Jewish immigrant girl from Russia. She lives in a small town, where no one understands her, and other children make fun of her clothes, and accent and her ignorance of American customs. In November, her classmates are appalled that she has never heard of Thanksgiving. But as we get to know Molly better, we, and eventually her classmates, realize that this child, who left her country and moved to America so that she and her family could practice their religion without fear is no different from the first pilgrims. By the time they reach second or third grade, most children have heard the story of the...Read more

Molly's Pilgrim is an excellent story of the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Molly has just moved to America from Russia, and is not enjoying it one bit. Kids in her third grade class make fun of her all the time because of her clothes and accent. She can't stand it, especially her worst enemy, Elizabeth. When Molly's class starts a project on Thanksgiving, they are told to make a doll. When Molly tells her mother this, her mother makes a doll for her, and the doll looks exactly the way her mother did when she was a girl. Her mother tells her that the Pilgrims fled England because they wanted to practice their religion freely, this is exactly what Molly's parents did, making them Pilgrims. That day, Molly takes it to school, but it looks very different from everyone else's. The children make fun of her, but they have a very big lesson to learn; the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Anyone will enjoy this story, old or young, because many can relate to it.