By adapting one of the oldest known books of the Americas, Victor Montejo has made the Mayan creation stories available to children for the first time. In the tradition of most sacred mythology, the stories tell of gods and demigods struggling to create the natural world we know today. One especially distinctive feature of the Mayan creation myth is the importance the creator places on language: he has several false starts, creating many species before he is satisfied with the speaking ability of the Men of Corn. Children may be particularly captivated by the tales involving the Hero Twins, wise, athletic tricksters who defeat the gods of the underworld by winning a ballgame, and who later become the sun and the moon. They will also be intrigued by Luis Garay’s marvelously detailed paintings which depict the gods and goddesses for the most part as ordinary-looking human beings. This elegantly produced volume is also available in its original Spanish-language edition, Popol Vuj: Libro Sagrado de los Maya (Groundwood, 1999). (Age 9 and up)

Popol Vuh, the Quiche Mayan book of creation is not only the most important text in the native language of the Americas, it is also an extraordinary document of the human imagination. It begins with the deeds of Mayan Gods in the darkness of a primeval sea and ends with the radiant splendor of the Mayan Lords who founded the Quiche Kingdom in the Guatemalan highlands. Originally written in Mayan hieroglyphs, it was translated into the Roman alphabet in the 16th century. The new edition of Dennis Tedlock's unabridged, widely praised translation includes new notes and commentary, newly translated passages, newly deciphered hieroglyphs, and over 40 new illustrations.