WHOS THAT STEPPING ON PLYMOUTH ROCK?
is a perfect example of the Fritz catalog of children’s books. In Who’s That Stepping…, Fritz traces Plymouth Rock to its humble beginnings. She records the debate by Plymouth’s citizens of the precise importance of the rock, and she tracks the rock’s comings and goings as it is lifted and moved, dropped and broken, whittled away at and revered. Along the way, students learn interesting facts about the history of Plymouth Rock, including many facts they probably didn’t know. (Did you know the Pilgrims weren’t called “Pilgrims” by early settlers? They were called “First Comers.”) And students will meet some of the people who played a role in the rock’s history. They meet the Alden and the Winslow families, for example. And they meet Elder Thomas Faunce, who — at age 95, as one of the last connections to the actual First Comers — speaks on behalf of the rock’s importance. Of course, the rock wasn’t important to everybody! Its supposed significance didn’t matter a whit to the seafarin
