The Same Sun Was in the Sky

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Sagging under the weight of too much exposition, this anthropology lesson in disguise sputters to a stop about halfway through. The concept is intriguing: that despite the vast differences between the lives of modern and ancient people, ``the same sun was in the sky,'' and a profound connection exists between each generation of the earth's inhabitants. But in first-time author Webb's zeal to share facts, she neglects her plot and characters, relegating the latter to the status of talking heads. In the modern Arizona desert, a boy explores petroglyphs with his grandfather, who lectures him about the Hohokam rock-carvers (300-1500 A.D.). The boy imagines a Hohokam boy like himself, and in the best spread, Porter, also a newcomer, depicts both boys doodling the same pattern in the sand. Indeed, Porter's realistic, sunset-hued watercolors offer a welcome respite to readers wading through this formidable presentation. Ages 5-up. (Mar.)

Children's Literature - Gisela Jernigan

A young boy and his grandfather visit their special place in the desert, a rocky hill near Tucson with many Hohokam petroglyphs, and there he learns about the Hohokam and their way of life. He imagines what a Hohokam boy might have been doing and thinking in the very same spot where he is today, and at the end of the book speculates about a boy in the future. While the realistic, softly colored illustrations and the continuity of place are very appealing, this picture book is especially useful because it supplies the young reader with much needed information about the prehistoric Hohokam Indians, a subject that has been neglected in the field of children's literature. An author's note at the end gives even more information about this early people.

Janice Del Negro

A young boy and his grandfather look at petroglyphs carved in the rocks at their favorite spot in the desert and speculate on the daily life of the ancient Hohokam people who drew them. The story is basically an anthropology lesson within the framework of a family outing, and as such, it works well. Webb delivers a great deal of what is known about the Hohokam through an unforced, if deliberate, question-and-answer format--the boy asks questions, and the grandfather answers them. Porter's watercolor illustrations are very effective when showing the boy and his grandfather in their present-day environment. They are somewhat less so when depicting the Hohokam. What ties the "lesson within the story" together is the boy's recognition that "the ones who came before" once lived under the same sun and sky that he does. An extensive author's note provides additional information on the Hohokam.