What do you think?
Rate this book
Hands of the Maya: Villagers at Work and Play
Witness loving, working hands in action in this vivid portrait of life in a Maya village.
"Grandmother Apolonia has gone to market for the day to weave and sell her baskets."
Experience a day in the life of a Maya village. The wisdom of the phrase "Many hands make light work" comes across in vivid detail as the community prepares a warm meal, weaves clothing, constructs roofs, and creates art and music. Best of all-in the morning or at the end of the busy day, a pair of strong, gentle hands never seems hard to find.
With its lyrical prose and richly textured photographs, this engaging picture book captures the hard work, love, and respect of the Maya culture.
The proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to a high-school scholarship fund for the children of Maya Centre.
"Grandmother Apolonia has gone to market for the day to weave and sell her baskets."
Experience a day in the life of a Maya village. The wisdom of the phrase "Many hands make light work" comes across in vivid detail as the community prepares a warm meal, weaves clothing, constructs roofs, and creates art and music. Best of all-in the morning or at the end of the busy day, a pair of strong, gentle hands never seems hard to find.
With its lyrical prose and richly textured photographs, this engaging picture book captures the hard work, love, and respect of the Maya culture.
The proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to a high-school scholarship fund for the children of Maya Centre.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2002
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 11, 2019
I have a lot of sweet babies who come from this part of the world. I appreciate a book that shows their culture in a positive light
February 26, 2015
Summary from Jacket: Experience a day in the life of Maya villagers. The wisdom of the phrase “Many hands make light work” comes in vivid detail, as the community prepares a warm meal, weaves clothing, makes roofs, and creates art and music. Best of all, in the morning and at the end of a busy day, a pair of strong, gentle hands never seem hard to find. With it’s lyrical prose and richly textured photographs, this engaging picture book captures the hard work, love, and respect of the Maya culture.
Why I Love this book : Like so many nonfiction picture books this has a hefty front matter explaining in adult language why, who, what, where, and when the book was written. In this case the author/photographer, Rachel Crandell, and elementary school teacher, lived in a Maya village in Belize and learned many of the daily activities just like they do in the book. She photographed the people at work and gave it a kid slant, thinking readers would appreciate how things are done in a remote village. where we do everything by the push of a button, even corn is removed by hand to make maize for flour for tortilla for breakfast. The elementary school girl student carried firewood from the forest for her mother’s wood stove that she cooks three meals on and so on. Not so different from our Native American’s in early history.
A very frank and no nonsense look at how things are still done today in a Maya village.
Why I Love this book : Like so many nonfiction picture books this has a hefty front matter explaining in adult language why, who, what, where, and when the book was written. In this case the author/photographer, Rachel Crandell, and elementary school teacher, lived in a Maya village in Belize and learned many of the daily activities just like they do in the book. She photographed the people at work and gave it a kid slant, thinking readers would appreciate how things are done in a remote village. where we do everything by the push of a button, even corn is removed by hand to make maize for flour for tortilla for breakfast. The elementary school girl student carried firewood from the forest for her mother’s wood stove that she cooks three meals on and so on. Not so different from our Native American’s in early history.
A very frank and no nonsense look at how things are still done today in a Maya village.
September 13, 2016
the author's notes at the beginning of the book were informative and actually helped the reader soak in more from the pictures with brief descriptions
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews