Up and Down the Andes: A Peruvian Festival Tale

by Laurie Krebs, Aurélia Fronty (Illustrator)

This rhyming text travels from Lake Titicaca all the way to the city of Cusco for the Inti Raymi Festival. Young readers will meet children from many regions of southern Peru who are travelling to the festival, each using a different mode of transport. The text also contains notes on the history and culture of Peru.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, Travel

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Laurie Krebs combines her love of children's literature with her enthusiasm for traveling, to create her wonderful picture books that bring readers all around the world. She lives in Virginia with her husband, Bill.

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Various children are all traveling down from the mountains to celebrate the sun. Colorful pictures help tell the cheerful story.

Ages: 4 - 8

Cleanliness: the festival in the book is in celebration of the sun god.

#geography #southamerica #peru

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[SaraKat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely little picture book about a festival in Peru that was part of ancient culture and is still acted out today by Peruvians to celebrate their history. In Spanish, the book doesn't rhyme, but it is nice. I think the end where more festivals and Peruvian history were explained was my favorite part. I learned quite a bit about Peru and its people. The art was strange to me and I bet it was done in this style to imitate a form from Peru, but I don't know.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book, woth fantastic illustrations and rhyming text.
It tells the story of various actors and participants on their way to the festival. The description of the festival for children is marvelous.
At the end is a great section on facts.
Superb choice for my grandkids, I know they will love it.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating book! I learned so much about the history and culture of Peru from the end pages. The text itself was interesting, great for multiculturalism, and holidays around the world. I enjoyed the history of Machu Picchu. Excellent book! Colorful acrylic paintings.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

simple story for preschoolers. Back matter seems to be for older children - info about the festival, Peru's history and people. The bit about Machu Pichhu includes that Bingham found it without mentioning local families were farming there.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A trip through Peru.

I thought this was a sweet little book.

Reading time twenty minutes.

[Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated. Nice rhyme. Lots of helpful and information back matter.

[Africa · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this sixth travel book by Krebs, readers are taken on a trip through the Andes Mountains to Cusco for the annual Inti Raymi festival honoring the Sun God. Told in rhythmic short sentences with rhyming text, we see Peruvian children travel to the festival by bus in Lima, boat in Lake Titicaca, train in Arequippa and truck in Puno. Each child has an item to be used in the festival: Juan “protects the headdress”, Louisa “grips the woven family capes”, and Fidel and Tia “clutch the costumes in their laps.” Through the Krebs descriptive word choices, readers get a sense of how precious and integral these items are to the central square party. The children arrive to a square decorated with colorful banners and lights, change into costumes and a process to the court and festival. The book begins and ends with lines reminding readers that though Peru is far away, the children of the world are the same, “And up and down the mountain slopes/Live children just like me” and ”And up and down the Andes/There are children just like me.” Fronty’s full-spread acrylic illustrations are reminiscent of Latin American murals with a mix of intense warm and cool colors (red, green, blue, gold). In a bit of inconsistency, the children – drawn with inexpressive oval eyes – do not convey the happiness and laughter of the festival described in the story. Endnotes complete the book with further explanation of the Sun God festival and other Peruvian festivals, and brief history of Peru, its people, Machu Picchu, and of course, the Andes Mountains. A good choice for reading aloud and as an addition to social studies, geography, and history curriculum.

[John Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Up and Down the Andes provides a delicious tale by Laurie Krebs seasoned with Fronty’s vibrant illustrations. A delight from cover to cover, this trek through the Andes of Peru invites readers to join in the Festival of the Sun God (Inti Raymi).
The warm tones in text and picture bring together the reader with other children as they employ various modes of transportation to attend the festival. Children are children no matter where one travels.

The amplification provided beyond the tale is much more than endnotes or a glossary. It too is a well-blended mix of text and picture that satisfies the curiosity generated by the story. From descriptions of the Inti Raymi and other festivals to a concise history of Peru, a vast amount of territory is covered in a well-organized easy-to-understand format. Much detail is also provided about culture and geography while introducing new terms to young readers such as ‘indigenous peoples’ and ‘UNESCO World Heritage Site.’
The delight of Up and Down the Andes is found in the broad audience it will find.

Younger readers will devour the illustrations and the activity of the story. Older readers will note the place names and subtle cultural practices embedded in the story. More inquisitive types will find the supplemental information offering another helping of Peru.
Classroom teachers could use the book in units on celebrations, the sun, the Incas, and South America to name just a few. School media centers and public libraries would also do well to add this versatile book to their collection.

5 out of 5

[Sam Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dammit I really had high hopes for this one, and perhaps if it weren't for those hopes I would have given more stars. My son is half Andean, and named for a God of the sun, so when I finally found a book set close to where his own people are from, and celebrating the annual festival of the sun no less, I was thrilled. Immediately it became clear that this was a story about Others, just based on the language of them them them, but that is easily forgivable. What is not is the inexplicable Anglicizing of the names - Louisa instead of Luisa, Riccardp instead of Ricardo. The idea of teaching my son about his history with this felt like an act of oppression. Given that, despite the value of the topic and nice illustrations, I cannot recommend it for classrooms either.

[Whirl Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book of the month. It is a simple story of children traveling from all over Peru to the Andean city of Cusco for a festival. At the beginning, individual children are featured, taking all different forms of transportation and then they meet at the festival. The illustrations are lush and evocative of the colors and textiles of the Andean region. There are numerous information pages in the back that I found educational.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great illustrations, simple, rhyming text, story about children all over Peru coming to the big city for The Festival of the Sun. Excellent read aloud!! Bonus for factual information about other Peruvian festivals, as well as a short history of Peru, and some basic facts. A must have for any preschool, public, and elementary school library.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Festival of the Sun

[Tnb · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic and the information after the book is fabulous. i am using pictures from my trip to peru in support as well

[Susan]

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