Ancient Aztec Culture

November 1, 2016

Gr 4-7-These surveys of the societal infrastructure and daily lives of people in highly advanced pre-Columbian empires have general introductions, followed by spreads with one to three paragraphs of text that discuss aspects of the subject. The topics in each volume are greatly interrelated because each aspect of the civilizations influenced all of the others, and there is some overlap and repetition in the content and illustrations. The images, some full page, are a strength. They are well captioned and combine contemporary photos of locations, ruins, and artifacts with reproductions of period art, and Aztec and Mayan codices. Dates are in the less preferred "B.C." and "A.D." format. These books are readable and would support basic reports, especially the titles on geography, technology and economies, but as a group these options don't improve on the large number of extant titles about pre-Columbian civilizations.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.