Author(s): Dante Liano,Rigoberta Menchu,David Unger,Domi
Format: Hardback
No. of Pages: 64
Publisher: GROUNDWOOD BOOKS
Language: English
Date Published: 2008-10-10
Dimensions: 162 x 244 x 16mm
Publication City/Country: Toronto, Canada, Canada
Edition:
Illustrations: Frontispiece; Illustrations, color

Rigoberta Menchu returns to the world of childhood in this, her third book. The novel s seven-year-old heroine, Ixkem, is chosen to tend to the prized cornfields once her grandfather has passed away. But Ixkem isn t sure she can accept this great responsibility. Out in the fields, she discovers a legion of tiny people, no bigger than bananas. They are b e n, nahuales secret animal spirits and when they take Ixkem into the underworld where they live, she regales them with tales of the surface. What they offer in return helps Ixkem to accept both her grandfather s wishes for her and the fact that she must soon wish him goodbye. This moving story is rich with emotion and Mayan folklore, perfect to captivate any young reader."