Aztec, Inca & Maya (Eyewitness Books)

Eyewitness Books are reliably great, but this one is my particular favorite. There is an illustration of an Aztec human sacrifice that I saw for the first time when I was in 5th grade and it struck me with that gruesome fascination that middle-grade kids love so much. In the updates made to the book in the last 25 years, that same illustration is still there! This book was a hit with my class this past year.

I'm biased towards this book because I have a strong interest in Native American cultures, but it's enough to raise interest in even the most casual reader. The most well-known and most powerful cultures of the pre-Columbian Americas are still not all that well known, so it's refreshing to see the artifacts and traditions present in this picture book. The book is full of mythology, sacrificial rituals, war and ceremonial attire, jewelry and art. The amazing illustrations of the past Aztec capital Tenochtitlan exhibit a unique metropolis of the Americas. The ruins of Chichen Itza and Macchu Picchu and other temples and pyramids are ancient treasures that still remain. There's no context or story, but the pictures speak for themselves - show more the stories of great civilizations past are well told through a wide variety of colorful pictures. show less

I really enjoyed the book Aztec, Inca, and Maya, especially because it was part of one of my favorite book series’, Eyewitness books. As a child, we always used to watch the eyewitness videos in school, and reading the books was fun as well. My favorite part of the Eyewitness series is how interactive the books are. When looking at a page, there often isn’t any “main block” of text. Instead, the book is made up of interesting diagrams, charts, and infographics relating to the topic. For example, this particular book contained a giant picture of a Mayan, and labeled the parts of the body and clothing that were specific to the Mayans. Another thing I like about this book is how big it is. Because of this, the text is larger and show more the pictures are as well. The only real negative thing about this book is that because there isn’t any main block of text, it can often be cluttered and confusing. The main idea of this book is to inform the reader about the Aztec, Incan, and Mayan Empires. show less

This book takes you through the beliefs, rituals, and civilization of the ancient Incas and Mayans. The pictures throughout the book are very helpful since each is labeled or summarized. A child who may not read well would still enjoy looking at this book because of that reason. Each page also contains a nice 8-10 sentence paragraph that summarizes the entire page. This book would be helpful to students who were writing research papers or for those who would like some fast facts about the Aztecs. I would give this book an overall rating of 5/5 because of the great pictures and information.

Interesting book about Aztec, Inca, and Maya artifacts and traditions. Seems like history likes to repeat itself all to often.

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