Burton Albert

Journey of the Nightly Jaguar Traditional Fantasy
By Burton Albert, Illustrated by Robert Roth

“Journey of the Nightly Jaguar” is a traditional fantasy picture book about Mayan Indians in Central American. These Indians believed that happenings in nature were caused my G-ds. These happenings sometimes took forms of animals. The jaguar is the most feared and most G-d like animal. One of the strongest aspects of this book is the comparison the author makes to provide visualization for readers. For example, Albert describes the raindrops to golden coins. The raindrops feel heavy and were treasured to the Mayan Indians in Central America. The Mayans believed that the rain made the sports on a jaguar. Albert says, “A spray of shimmering bubbles that hang in the air like silver cymbals”. The comparisons (similes) really took “Journey of the Nightly Jaguar” to the next level. In the end the Jaguar bursts in to the sun and the sun rises a glorious red again. One thing I didn’t really like about the book was the fact that it was unclear if the jaguar only comes out when it rains or only at night. It was a cute traditional fantasy story, but I thought the ledged of the jaguar was sort of vague. It would not be my first tradition fantasy choice, but I thought it was a good one that depicted a tale of Mayan Indians in Central America.… (more)