People of the Breaking Day

By Sewall, Marcia

Themes flagged by parents·6

Cultural Representation

  • American Indian

    This book contains predominantly American Indian people and/or American Indian culture.

Religion

  • Religion

    This book contains religious themes.

Sensitive Content

  • Death

    This book talks about death and/or dying.

  • Nudity

    This book contains pictures of nudity.

  • Smoking

    This book contains pictures or language about smoking.

  • War

    This books contains language and/or pictures of war

Synopsis

We are Wampanoags, People of the Breaking Day. Nippa'uus the Sun, in his journey through the sky, warms us first as he rises over the rim of the sea. At his birth each new morning we say, "Thank you, Nippa'uus, for returning to us with your warmth and light and beauty." But it is Kiehtan, the Great Spirit, who made us all: we, the two-legged who stand tall, and the four-legged; those that swim and those that fly and the little people who crawl; and flowers and trees and rocks. He made us all, brothers sharing the earth.

So begins the story of the Wampanoag people, the tribe that lived in southeastern Massachusetts at the time the Pilgrims landed. In this companion book to The Pilgrims of Plimoth, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for nonfiction, Marcia Sewall recreates the world of the Wampanoags, the People of the Breaking Day.

Details

Illustrator
Marcia Sewall
Publisher
Aladdin
ISBN-10
9780689816840
ISBN-13
9780689816840
Reading age
6 – 9
Grade level
1 – 4
Pages
48
Published
1997
Added to shelf
May 12, 2026