Latin America & Caribbean - Peoples & Places, Crafts & Hobbies - General & Miscellaneous, Native American Studies, Ancient Civilizations - History - General & Miscellaneous
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Overview
Make elegant objects based on priceless relics from ancient Mexico and Egypt. The past comes beautifully to life as kids explore these vanished empires with more than a dozen hands-on projects. Text and photos introduce the stepped temples, stone calendars, and feathered shields of the Aztecs, as well as the pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. Easy, step-by-step instructions help young artists make gifts, masks, games, jewelry, and more using inexpensive materials.Author Biography: Gillian Chapman, author of Crafts from the Past: the Aztecs, and Crafts from the Past: the Egyptians, as well as Art from Sand & Earth (Raintree/Steck Vaughn) lives in England.
Projects based on various features of Aztec culture recreate some of their arts and crafts, including woven textiles, mosaic masks, jewelry, featherwork, and wheeled toys.
Editorials
Children's Literature -
Chapman has assembled an interesting collection of fifteen craft projects based on the art and artifacts of the Aztec culture. Each item is depicted in full color and accompanied by historical and background information and pictures of real artifacts. Glyphs, pottery, jewelry, a codex and masks are among the featured items. Each activity is presented on a two-page spread which contains a box listing the supplies needed. The instruction tend to be general, so these activities, while a good adjunct to a social studies unit, are best for kids who have previous craft experience. There is a glossary and much to be learned and appreciated. One quibble, the section on "Aztec Picture Writing" precedes a section entitled "Bird Bowls" which states that the Aztecs left no written records. That appears inconsistent or at least subject to interpretation. Glyphs recorded on any medium would be a written record. 2000 (orig. 1997), HarperCollins, Ages 7 up, $9.95. Reviewer: Dr. Judy RowenSchool Library Journal
Gr 4-8Brief snippets of text make for superficial coverage of the Egyptian and Aztec empires, but craftsnot historyare the focus of this series, and sufficient information is given to put the crafts into a cultural context. The appealing, inventive projects include "Jade Mosaics," "Featherwork," "Woven Textiles," and "Chacmool Statues" (The Aztecs); and "Nest of Mummies," "Scarab Seals," "Board Games," and "Canopic Jars" (The Egyptians). The colorful crafts are attractive, often ambitious, and generally reflective of the culture. Instructions are rather sketchy, but the full-color diagrams and photographs of completed projects provide sufficient clarification. There are no pretensions to authenticity here. On the contrary, there is a rather jarring effort to make the items "useful" (e.g., a mosaic papier-mch serpent becomes a key holder, a cat mummy becomes a "purr-fect" money box), and the general instructions suggest that "All the projects make perfect presents." These volumes are hardly essential, but as supplementary material for hands-on learning, they should prove useful.Marcia Hupp, Mamaroneck Public Library, NYBook Details
Published
January 28, 1998
Publisher
Heinemann Library
Pages
39
Format
Binding
ISBN
9781575725550