You Wouldn't Want to Be a Mayan Soothsayer

Bookworm Speaks!

You Wouldn’t Want To Be A Mayan Soothsayer!

Fortunes You’d Rather Not Tell

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Written by Rupert Matthews

Illustrated by David Antram

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Acquired: Perot Museum of Nature and Science. 

Series: You Wouldn't Want to...

Paperback: 32 Pages

Publisher: Franklin Watts (September 2007)

Language: English

Subject: Non-Fiction

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The Story: Get ready…as the son of a Maya Holy Man you are expected to follow in your father’s footsteps. It’s not an easy job—one false move and you could seriously regret becoming a Mayan Soothsayer. It’s perilous! Top Tips from Experts. Pay attention in math class—it’s the key to success in the Maya world. Learn the names of all of the gods, and how to keep them happy. Don’t make mistakes when making a sacrifice or you could be sacrificed next. Carrying a god’s statue will keep you safe in battle. 

The Review: When Bookworm was in middle school, he came across a book in his history class.  It was called- You wouldn’t want to be a Roman Gladiator. It was brilliant. It was richly illustrated, funny, and surprisingly informative and upon further recollection, extremely accessible for a young student. He can still remember segments of the book with surprising clarity. 

Many years later, after exploring the Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed exhibit at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Bookworm came across another book in the same series. Bookworm had known that there were more books in the series but he had no idea it was still around. Needless to say…he bought it, read it, and now Bookworm is going to speak about it!

Part of the reason this book is so accessible is how the text is personalized. It should be remarked that this series is one of the few books in general that utilize the second-person point of view. For the uninformed: First Person View means a story told from the point of view of ‘I’. Third Person is ‘he, she, they.” Second is ‘You”. Needless to say this particular format is particularly rare. In this book though, it works as it really takes the reader on a journey of this Mayan soothsayer from boyhood to master. The creators of this book were smart in their formatting in that each section is dedicated to a particular facet of Mayan culture, yet presents each one as a step on the Soothsayer’s journey. The best kind of non-fiction is one that does not merely repeat facts but tells the reader a story and that is exactly what this book does. Throughout it, the author throws in additional facts, but they always relate to the main topic of the section and are accompanied by colorful illustrations. Illustrations are important no matter what the level of reader. They help them visualize the topic of the text.  

The illustrations while stylized to be appealing to the intended audience, do seem faithful to current historical hypotheses. The costumes, objects, buildings and other details seem factually accurate if perhaps a bit simplified. Bookworm is not an expert, so he would not know. The stylization mostly revolves around the human characters, which are rather funny and full off cartoonish exaggerations. Some may argue that they not ethnically accurate but remember: this book is primarily marketed to kids. 

Final Verdict: While by no means an in depth examination of Mayan culture, this little book is a perfect introduction to the people of ancient Central America, either for firing the imagination of young minds or serving as a bite-sized serving of culture for a curious amateur.

Four Mayan Pyramids out of Five

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