Joy Hakim

Thousands of years ago--way before Christopher Columbus set sail--wandering tribes of hunters made their way from Asia across the Bering land bridge to North America. They didn't know it, but they had discovered a New World. "The First Americans" is a fascinating re-creation of pre-Columbian Native American life, and it's an adventure of a lifetime! Hunt seals with the Inuit; harvest corn on a cliff-top mesa; hunt the mighty buffalo; and set sail with Leif Erickson, Columbus, and all the early great explorers--Cabot, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Cortes, Henry the Navigator, and more--in this brilliantly told story of America before it was America.… (more)

There are a few good things about this book and several bad. To start with the good things. First, it is quite handsomely manufactured. Second, it has rather well-chosen illustrations. Third, it gives prominence to certain people, events, and topics that are often undeservedly overlooked. Fourth, it is nice to look at.

Proceeding to the bad, though. First, it uses the present tense for the past, and ends up using the future for the past as well. This is, no doubt, to give the book a sense of immediacy for younger readers, but it is annoying. Second, some of the captions are mistaken, and this should not have happened. On page 2, there is a carving of Gilgamesh and Enkidu slaying Humbaba which is described as "Stone Age". The Stone Age was well over by the time that carving was made. Third, in the introduction, in the second paragraph there is a quotation from a book by Karen Armstrong, who according to the book's description of her, is a Catholic who writes theology or is a person who writes Catholic theology. It is very strange to call out this person by name, when the quotation is used to make a minor point, in the very second paragraph of the introduction, no less. Something is up, but what?… (more)