24. ...If You Lived with the Hopi

...If You Lived with the Hopi by Anne Kamma
Illustrated by Linda Gardner

Pages: 80
Finished: Feb. 4, 2009
First Published: 1999
Genre: children, non-fiction
Rating: 3/5

Reason for Reading: read-aloud to the 8yo as part of our curriculum.

First sentence:

The first Spanish explorers came to North America more than five hundred years ago.

Comments: After a brief introduction the book is presented in a question and answer format directly written to the reader. The questions are interesting ones that children would ask and the questions also follow a logical format with one leading to the next. The illustrations are bold, but a little cartoony. Some actual photographs would have been nice.

My 8yo didn't particularly enjoy the book, and I'm not really sure why. I think he just lost interest in the topic the further we went along. (His personal opinion) I found the book well-written and interesting, probably something I would have enjoyed as a child as I read a lot of illustrated non-fiction back then. My only quibble is the slight cartoonish-ness of the illustrations, no real photographs and I had to edit on the fly as the Spaniards and Catholics were presented as one-dimensional cruel people and the word "forced" was used a lot. I prefer a non-biased approach when these topics are discussed; one that explains the feelings of those on both sides of the situation. But these topics are only found towards the end of the book, as much of the book is about pre-white-man life, and easily skipped, edited or discussed.