From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Gorgeous full-color photographs of the many ruins found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico enhance this book, which details Lourie's personal journey to this sacred site. In the clear, interesting text, the author describes the stone buildings and relates information gleaned from his guide, Gwinn Vivian, a local archaeologist. One brief section discusses the work of Richard Wetherill, the first person to undertake excavations at Chaco and also, with his brothers, the first to do archaeological work at Mesa Verde. Lourie has taken care to relate what is known about the structures and the people who built them and to point out that much about this culture remains a mystery. The list for further reading cites current sources, but no Web sites. Written for a slightly younger audience, David Petersen's Chaco Culture National Park (Children's, 2000) is also very informative.
David Pauli, Hillsboro Public Library, ORCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gr. 5-8. There's no doubt that the Anasazi, an ancient Pueblo people who lived in America's Southwest, are a tantalizing subject. Despite being master builders and prodigious traders, in the last half of the thirteenth century they mysteriously disappeared from their homes. Lourie, who has written other books about his journeys, offers a first-person glimpse of his trip to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico to look for clues among the ruins there. The enticing premise, however, is marred by the book's design, in which the text and the accompanying pictures are not always in synch. The color photos, though crisp and clear, add almost nothing (perhaps because the captions are so minimal), thus missing a chance to expand or clarify text details. Lourie's narrative is also somewhat disconcerting, since he begins without telling readers who he is or what has drawn him to the canyon. Caroline Arnold's
The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde (2000) is a better treatment, but this does offer another viewpoint for kids whose imaginations are sparked by the topic.
Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
