Christopher G. Knight

Absolutely terrific... for older children and for adults. ?�It's much too long to straight read to toddlers. ?áOtoh, there are lots of pictures. ?áAnd I loved that it was told from the perspective of a mom scientist who takes her sons with her, and they have responsibilities and make discoveries, too! ?áThorough, engaging, probably best for about 5th grade. The scientist, Meg Lowman, believes that science is the machinery that runs the earth." ?áThe text explains that she means this in the sense of wondering "How many species can be removed before it will break?" Meg divides her time between the rainforest floor, the canopy, and her lab back in the US. ?áShe works very hard, as an attentive reader can see she must, in the appr. 5 days/month she's in the canopy. ?áShe must, because all this adventuring costs a fair bit of money and time. ?áOk, not as much money as a linear accelerator or fMRIs on a lab full of rhesus monkeys, but, for example, when she was working in Cameroon she viewed the canopy from a raft hung from a dirigible! Anyway, an example of the hard work that impressed my 19 yo son was that "Meg begins taking 'snapshots' of leaf-eating activity. ?áLast month she had marked every leaf on several branches with a number ?áShe now checks to see how much of each leaf has been eaten." ?áBack at camp, after the boys are asleep (after reading [book:Treasure Island|897462] toegether) she traces some of the leaves onto graph paper to be as precise as possible. ?áScience is adventure *and* thorough, meticulous record-keeping. On a little after-dinner walk son James notices a web moving. ?áMeg says it's the breeze. ?áJames isn't convinced, and then they realize "the spider is winching in its own web by pulling on a line. ?áThen... the web springs back, and at its trembling center is a small insect.... ?áMeg is astounded. ?áNever before had she seen or even heard of such a spider." ?á(Unfortunately I'm unable to find confirmation that this was new to science and whether the boys got credit/naming rights.)"… (lisätietoja)

SUMMARY: This book is a lengthy informational text that describes the Day of the Dead in the Mexican culture. It gives the detailed description of how Mexican people celebrate their loved ones who have passed. The book has mini stories of families in Mexico, their situations, and how they celebrate.

Review: The book has a lot of information and vivid pictures that coincide with the text. The pictures are photographs from a Los Dias de Muertos celebration, which I believe is a great accent to the pages because the reader feels as if they are there. This book also has Spanish words and the author provides a translation. The main message of this book is to inform the reader about the Day of the Dead and how the people in Mexico celebrate.… (lisätietoja)

SUMMARY
This book details the traditions of the Mexican holiday of Los Dias de Muertos, or Days of the Dead. People dress up in costumes and ask for treats like candy skulls or buy bread with bone patterns. Families also remember the spirits of those who have passed by collecting foods and items as an offering to those spirits and cleaning up the grave. At night, they pray and sing by the candlelight.

REVIEW
I think my favorite part of this book are the photographs. They really help provide context and clarification for the information in the text. The photo of the sugar skulls was absolutely beautiful and really allowed me to understand what they were. There is also a photo of calacas that helped provide a visual for an item that I did not comprehend. This book gives great information on the holiday and helps readers who do not celebrate it to understand its importance. Also, whenever there was a Spanish term, the author would explain it so that others could understand what the term was or resembled.… (lisätietoja)

The nonfiction book/photographic essay called Days of the Dead by Kathryn Lasky and photographed by Christopher G. Knight is an enlightening book about the Mexican celebration that honors dead loved ones. Referred to as los Dias de Muertos or the Days of the Dead, this special event involves living family members remembering their ancestors by carrying out traditional activities from October 28 to November 2 of each year. This sentimental, spiritual holiday usually involves living relatives preparing an offrenda or offering that is set up like an alter at their homes and consists of photographs of the dead loved one(s) along with favorite foods and items for those who have passed on to the next cycle of life. The living relatives gather, eat, and talk about their deceased loved one(s) before venturing to the cemeteries where their dead relatives are buried. They then clean around the gravesites and display beautiful, colorful flowers, have a picnic with other family members and friends, and pray. In the evening, many of the children dress in costumes representing mummies, ghosts, and ghouls and run through the streets yelling, “Calaveras! Calaveras!” which means Skulls! Skulls! Some have in their hands boxes or bowls for collecting money or candy.

I was ignorant about this Mexican holiday called los Dias de Muertos and learned a great deal from Lasky’s well written account of what this particular celebration entails. Although she is criticized by others, such as Denise Davila who wrote an article entitled In Search of the Ideal Reader for Nonfiction Children’s Books about el Dia de Los Muertos in which she critically analyses eight books, including Lasky’s for being culturally biased about this Mexican commemoration of the dead. Davila states that Lasky, along with the six other writers who present relevant texts on this topic, are merely outside informers or tourist writers who give misinformation about the Day of the Dead. Of the eight writers reviewed, she comments that only one, who happens to be Mexican, portrays this event with validity.

Davila does give Lasky credit, however for writing her book with a particular child in mind named Gamaliel in which she follows the story of his grandparents’ lives in central Mexico who both died several years ago. She then however, reveals her belief that Lasky’s book reads more like a Social Studies textbook rather than nonfiction literature and I could not disagree with her more. I found Lasky’s book, along with Knight’s photographs, to be authentic and edifying concerning los Dias de Muertos. She presented the story of Domatilla and Juan de Jesus and their living family members in a warm and loving fashion that demonstrated respect for these people’s beliefs. Although she is not Mexican, it is my opinion from what I read and saw in her book that she made a conscious effort to do thorough research and present her information as authentically as possible. I also understand, however, that Davila’s purpose for writing her critical analysis article on Lasky and the other seven writers whose books were about The Day of the Dead, was to catch readers’ attention, so that the important task of choosing books to read about this Mexican celebration should be one that offers readers correct information that is not biased by the writers’ own cultural traditions or beliefs. Also, it was Davila’s intention to make sure that both the writers and readers are ideal in that they are not tour guides and tourists respectively as they present and absorb this topical material.

All in all, I would recommend Days of the Dead by Kathryn Lasky and Christopher G. Knight because it is, in my opinion, from reading the book and witnessing the photographs that this writer and photographer went to great lengths to organize and represent this Mexican traditional celebration in a way that was accurate and respectful.… (lisätietoja)