The Anasazi Culture at Mesa Verde (Events That Shaped America Series) by Sabrina Crewe, Dale Anderson

Children's Literature

In the Four Corners region of the American Southwest a Native-American culture known as the Anasazi once thrived. There, for centuries, Anasazi people tended to their fields along the ridgeline of Mesa Verde and other plateaus. Over time, the Anasazi people developed an effective agricultural model as well as a complex culture. The Anasazi culture featured a society built around their farming methods as well as their unique living places sited along isolated and nearly inaccessible cliffs. Later, for reasons that are not completely clear, the Anasazi people left their ancestral homeland and moved to other parts of the Southwest. Once relocated the Anasazi disappeared and remain only in the form of their hypothetical descendents such as the Zuni and Hopi tribes. Why did the Anasazi culture rise in the region it did? What caused the Anasazi to move to the remote cliff villages? How did the Anasazi determine that life in their homelands was no longer viable? These, and other questions about this nearly mythological people, are addressed in this slim volume. Written as a portion of the "Events That Shaped America" series this book is a reasonable introduction to a fascinating Native-American culture. Readers with an interest in deeper information on this same subject should turn their attention to a book of the same title that Dale Anderson has recently written for the "Landmark Events in American History" series published by an affiliated company. However, readers just beginning to study this portion of Native-American history will do well to peruse this concise and illustrated work. 2003, Gareth Stevens, Romaneck

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-In the first book, the authors highlight what is known about the Anasazi people who lived in Colorado dating back to 500 B.C.E. Why and how they chose to settle the Mesa Verde is explained, and why they changed from pithouses to adobe pueblos is addressed. Color photos of the land and artifacts dot each page. The first chapter of Gold Rush discusses the history of California, followed by the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill. The author then discusses the positive and negative effects of the discovery on the state and the nation in general, on the lives of the miners, and what happened when the gold ran out. Photographs, cartoons, drawings, and reproductions in color and black and white, all with lengthy captions, are found throughout. In both books, focus boxes and quotes appear on almost every page. Activities that children probably won't do unless assigned for homework are provided in the end pages. If these titles meet your curriculum needs, they will be useful resources for reports.-Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio, TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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