Awesome Ancient Ancestors!: Mound Builders, Maya, and More (America's Horrible Histories) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Levy (Author), Dan McFeeley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: America's Horrible Histories

The second volume in this zany history series explores the ancient peoples and civilizations that existed in the land now called America. Carving spear points, creating cities, building giant earthworks (like bears with 70-foot shoulders!), these Ancient Americans were busy! Readers will discover just how much happened before Columbus ever set foot on American soil.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Elizabeth Levy presents a punchy perspective on the past with two new titles in America's Horrible Histories series, Awesome Ancient Ancestors! and Who Are You Calling a Woolly Mammoth?, both illus. by Daniel McFeeley. Chunky blocks of informative text, timelines, sidebars, cheeky chapter headings ("Hello, People! Good-bye, Mammoths"; "A Huntin' and Gatherin' We Will Go"; and, for Mammoth, "The Ice Age Cometh") and a wisecracking cockroach guide lead readers on an informative exploration. (Sept.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-A lively romp through early human history in North America and Mesoamerica. Humorous cartoons abound as a wisecracking cockroach guides readers from about 10,500 B.C.E. to approximately 1000 C.E. Short chapter divisions, time-line and travel-site sidebars, and goofy captions spice up the currently known and surmised facts about early inhabitants of the Americas. Archaeological finds that have contributed to this knowledge explain how scientists learned what they believe to be true and how they have been able to hypothesize about the lives of these people. The factors that may have led to the rise and decline of each civilization discussed are based on current interpretations of archaeological evidence. Some of the same facts are presented in the first two chapters of Liz Sonneborn's The New York Public Library Amazing Native American History (Wiley, 1999). Helen Roney Sattler's The Earliest Americans (Clarion, 1993) also presents much of the same material. In addition, it includes South American civilizations; many detailed, informative illustrations; and a voluminous bibliography. Awesome Ancient Ancestors! has no glossary or bibliography.
Ann G. Brouse, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (August 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059010795X
• ISBN-13: 978-0590107952
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #665,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Horrible Histories, April 20, 2002

By 

D Ferris (Wichita, KS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Awesome Ancient Ancestors (America's Horrible Histories) (Hardcover)

This books are wonderful. They make learning history fun and cool. It combines jokes, historical facts and funny information in a great easy-to-read package. My 4th grader loves the whole series. Both reluctant readers and history lovers will enjoy the breezy way history is told in these books. Ideal for 3rd-5th graders and even middle school students. Great as gifts or for a classroom. Too bad all history books aren't this fun!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally funny, November 4, 2003

By 

Jennifer L. Kenny (Houston, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Awesome Ancient Ancestors!: Mound Builders, Maya, and More (America's Horrible Histories) (Paperback)

I loved this book. It is a fun way for you to understand history at any age. It has cartoons and great jokes. History books are normaly boring, on the other hand this book will make you laugh out loud and roll on the floor.Thats how intertaning it is! Read it and you will adore everything about it!