¡Mira, Look!: La muerte del sol y otros cuentos del antiguo Perú

¡Bueno días!

Today I will be continuing our Peruvian adventures with María Rostworowski’s book of stories, titled La muerte del sol y otros cuentos del antiguo Perú (The Death of the Sun and Other Stories from Ancient Peru). The book is written in Spanish and consists of 6 short stories, each between 3 and 6 pages of text in length. It is worth noting that María Rostworowski  (1915-2016) was a notable Peruvian historian whose work focused largely on pre-Spanish Peru and the Incan Empire. This children’s book is one of several which she wrote. Illustrated by Peruvian artist Beatriz Chung,  this lovely edition includes illustrations that are bright, lighthearted and filled with people, animals and elements of the natural world. Both the text and illustrations give life to natural beings.

I am excited to share this book not only because of its historical content, but also because of its geographical breadth. Many times our children’s books overly simplify depictions of a country or people, yet this book captures some of Peru’s vast ecological diversity by spanning the desert coast, Amazonian jungle, highland Andes, and so on.

Advertisement

WWW: PBS Conquistadors On-Line Learning Adventure

Long before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the Inca controlled 2,500 miles of South America’s west coast and ruled over 12 million people. Meanwhile, in Central Mexico, over a quarter million people lived in Tenochtitlan on two islands constructed in a “sea of water lilies.” These were not the disorganized, nomadic tribes that I was introduced to when I was in grade school. The pre-columbian Americas featured highly coordinated, centralized empires: Engineers designed intricate road and canal systems; astronomers tracked celestial bodies; and state bureaucrats meticulously calculated and recorded the tribute obligations of local communities.