The Aztecs: Life in Tenochtitlan

by Matt Doeden, Samuel Hiti (Illustrator)

Introduces the history, daily life, religion, social customs, and inventions of the Aztecs, along with descriptions of Tenochtitlan, its largest city.

Genres: History

48 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Matt Doeden was born in southern Minnesota and lived parts of his childhood in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and Madison, Minnesota. He studied journalism at Mankato State University, where he worked at the college newspaper for three years. In his senior year, he served as the paper's Sports Editor, which put him in charge of the entire sports section, the sports writers, and the photographers. He covered mostly college sports, but also the Minnesota Vikings, who held training camp at MSU.

His work allowed him to meet and interview people like Dennis Green, Cris Carter, Robert Smith, and more. Matt went on to work as a sports writer for the Mankato paper, and then he got a job as an editor with a small children's publisher called Capstone Press, and in 2003 he decided to start his own business as a freelance writer and editor.

Since then, Matt has written and edited hundreds of books. Lots of them are on high-interest topics like cars, sports, and airplanes. He also writes and edits on geography, science, and even math.

Reviews

[Teneka Howland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grades 4-5

Doeden provides the reader with a vast amount of historical, cultural, and geographical information about the Aztec Indians. The book is broken up into chapters and has an index at the beginning so that young readers can easily navigate through the book. Samuel Hiti provides wonderful illustrations that take up full pages, sometimes even more. These illustrations give insight of what it would be like to be a member of the Aztecs. The book also includes pictures of real Aztec artifacts, which will appeal to the children. The text usually takes up about a half of a page, which makes the book less intimidating but still quite informative. The book has a glossary, timeline, pronunciation guide, and a bibiography in the final pages.

Related Content Areas:
Social Studies, English Language Arts

Lesson Idea:
The children could learn to make pictograph books (which are the types of books that the Aztec Indians made) filled with pictures that demonstrate what they have learned about the Aztec Indians.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been in love with Tenochtitlan for years. This picture book was informative and entertaining, but it wasn't riveting. I liked that it tried to show what life was like for the common folk of the city, not just the usual schpiel (sp?) about the upper classes. The only drawback for me was that the drawings annoyed me a bit after a while, so I'd put the book down and pick it back up later for more reading. The boys liked it "okay."