Really young children who are susceptible to nightmares may be better steered away from the book until they are older and better able to take it into concept since the artwork can be truly scary-like.

I would recommend this brilliant book to teachers who want their children to succeed in Maya history and for people who like action stories.I picked it up because of the cover and I am happy to say that the whole book is equally magnificent. Though the story is simple and straightforward, and I enjoyed it, whatever you may find lacking in it is more than made up for by 1) did I mention the art? Although it doesn't explore the full aspect of Mayan life and what it may have been like the reader is introduced to one of the sports they participate in, the famous calendar, one of the Gods, special animals and even some details such as clothing. He worked for several years as a clown before moving to Maryland and joining the Prince George's Country Puppet Theatre where he met his wife Donna Harris.

Pik is a brave Maya boy and tries to save his civilisation from being engulfed in a year of drought. The beautifully executed, luminous illustrations capture the atmosphere of an African-American community post-slavery: the drudgery of days consumed by back- breaking labor, the texture of private lives conducted by lantern- light.A Jersey Devil: a blue-furred, red-bellied and -winged mythical creature that looks like “a tiny dragon” with cloven hooves, like a deer’s, on its hind feet. Married six months later, the Wisniewskis started their own troupe, Clarion Shadow Theatre, specializing in shadow puppetry.

A unique artist again creates a substantial original tale based on folkloric traditions, meticulously explained in an extensive note.The icing to the literary cake is the wealth of information in the afterword about all things Mayan - whether it's pronunciation of the game pok-a-tok, illumination about the importance of Quetzals, or even just defining what a cenote is. It is truly astounding how much life and movement and expression and action and detail the author archived with an exacto knife and construction paper.

one where the reader can empathize with the main character and feel as if they are joining him on his quest. After his children were born, he become a full-time author/ illustrator, using layers of cut paper to illustrate children's books. Thankfully, he hits it off with fellow new student, “punk rock”–looking Uchenna Devereaux, a black girl with twists (though they actually look like dreads in Aly’s illustrations). The ancient Maya civilization is the setting for this original tale, inspired by the Maya belief that fate is divinely decreed and cannot be changed. A brief history lesson given by a mixed-race associate of Fauna’s in which she compares herself to the American “melting pot” manages to come across as simultaneously corrective and appropriative.Indigenous cultures throughout the Americas have rituals, routines, customs, and ceremony to bring the rain.