Piero Ventura

This is a brief introduction to Christopher Columbus that focuses on his first voyage to the Americas. It includes interesting information about tangible things like the ships and the crew that aren't usually included in other picture book takes on this topic. Ventura's illustrations have a lot of white space and the use of diagrams while still feeling narratively dynamic.

A painter contracts with monks to paint a mural of St. George slaying the dragon on one of monastery's walls. When he discovers how awful the monk's soup is, he decides to play a trick. He flatters one of the monks, asking him to pose as the model for St. George. In exchange, the monk bakes him a cake. When the cake gets low, the greedy painter decides to use the trick on all of the monks, playing on their vanity. But the monks discover what he's done and play the final trick. Fun story that show more left an impression, and soft cartoony illustrations. show less

1. In Search of Troy, by Piero Ventura, illustrated by Gian Paolo Ceserani, and published in 1985 by Silver Burdett, is an informational chapter book on the ancient city of Troy and Heinrich Schliemann, the man who was so influential on proving that Homer’s Iliad was true. I thought that the book was ok. I enjoyed the ever expanding plot, and the descriptive language, but the writing seemed to bounce around a lot from ancient Troy to Schliemann’s discovery of Troy. The author did a great show more job of building the plot through the story to the iconic concurring of troy and the ever famous wooden horse. The tension of the plot grows significantly when the Greek Achilles fights one on one against Hector of Troy. The author puts great detail to the importance of the fight that builds the tension for the reader. On page 40 the author writes how this fight could tip the balance of the war to one sides favor. This tension made me very anxious to find out what happened even though I already knew the outcome of the fight. What really stood out besides this fight is the wooden horse chapter. Many people know the story of the wooden horse. The Greeks suddenly disappear and leave a great wooden horse for the Trojans. The Trojans, thinking this is a sign of peace, take the horse into the city. Unknown to the Trojans however, the Greek army is inside and later destroys the city of Troy. The author really builds up the tension of the plot by including some Trojan opinions not to trust the Greeks. I found myself telling the characters to not take the horse in because of the trick the Greeks were playing. The writer’s strength of plot is only matched by his strength of descriptive language. The author truly left no stone unturned when describing the inner workings of troy and how the city was built. Page 39 gives a great example of how the Trojans lived their lives. The author goes into great detail about how the citizens built the city and how they lived. An example of this is when he describes how the Trojans built their houses. The language that he uses is simple enough for children yet descriptive enough that they can get a picture of Trojan houses in their heads. He describes the houses as “clay and mud houses that had straw on top for insulation.” I thought that this painted a great picture of Troy. This book got very confusing at times as the author kept switching between ancient troy and its discovery by Heinrich Schliemann. One chapter would start a piece on Heinrich that would go on for about two chapters. Then all of the sudden there is a chapter on the Iliad. The transitions between chapters were very weak and confusing. I found myself having to change my thought randomly as I was going from chapter to chapter. The randomness of changed with the chapters had me bored with the story. Ancient history and never giving up are central themes of this story. The city of troy is long gone and is an ancient civilization. Heinrich Schliemann never gave up on his belief that the city of Troy was real. Even when people doubted him he pushed on to prove them wrong. show less

Darwin-Nature reinterpreted is a nonfiction book by Piero Ventura that explores the work of naturalists like Darwin, Lewis and Clark and Thomas Jefferson. Although the book has chapters describing the work of many naturalist, it is primarily on the life and work of Charles Darwin. The book portrays the society of Darwin's time as well as his voyage on the Beagle. It humanizes darwin as a twenty two year old young man from an affluent family who doesn't know what he wants to do in life. ""He show more has no doubts about his true vocation: he wants to be a scholar of natural sciences". At this time, Darwin receives an invitation to accompany Captain Robert FitzRoy on an expedition aboard the Beagle to explore the South American coast. The next few chapters describes Darwin's life on the ship, his journey, the hardships he faced but most importantly the evidence he found to support his Theory of Evolution. There are snippets of information about the various places where the ship docked as well as Darwin's fascination with the natural world. The pictures accompanying each chapter are rich with information and support the theme of the chapters.
Although the book narrates Darwin's thoughts and feelings, there was no proof to support these claims. it seemed like an informational picture book where the reader might be confused whether one read fictions or non-fiction. How can the author be sure that "Darwin was struck by the grand condors that took advantage of high-altitude air currents to soar without moving their wings". This seemed more like a made up statement than actual thoughts of Darwin.
In all an entertaining book that can be read to students in the 6th-10th grades. it would act a hook to start a controversial topic like Evolution. show less