Montezuma and the Fall of the Aztecs

This biography tells of the great Aztec emperor who welcomed the Spanish explorers into his homeland and ended up paying a terrific price for his kindness with the fall of his great empire and the death of many of his people.

Grade 3-5-Hern n Cort?s and his small force of Spanish soldiers arrived on the coast of Mexico in 1519. Within three years an estimated 240,000 people were dead and the Aztec empire had collapsed. Kimmel prefaces his account of these events with a few pages of background information on the empire and Montezuma's rule. The story of Cort?s's marches inland, his capture of the native leader, and the siege on Tenochtitlan is simply but dramatically told. San Souci's light-filled, detailed watercolors paint a vivid picture of these adversaries-bearded Spanish soldiers on horseback laden with heavy armor in contrast with the Aztec leaders on foot, adorned with colorful plumage and jade. Use this inviting and clearly written title with Kimmel's The Two Mountains (Holiday, 2000) and Mary-Joan Gerson's People of Corn (Little, Brown, 1995) to enrich studies of Mesoamerican culture.
Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Kimmel's (The Two Mountains, reviewed above) ambitious yet problematic recounting of the Aztec nation's demise opens with a description of Montezuma II and the 16th-century empire over which he ruled in what is now central and southern Mexico. "But all was not well in Montezuma's domain," the narrative continues. Kimmel demonstrates that the Aztecs' penchant for capturing other peoples and sacrificing them to their gods led almost inevitably to the Aztecs' downfall: the Spanish explorer Cort?s successfully drafts the conquered people into his cause and overthrows Montezuma. San Souci's (Ice Bear and Little Fox) opening watercolors give the Aztecs an exotic air by focusing on the pageantry and grandeur of Montezuma's court; his later illustrations capture the violence (if not the blood and gore) of the battles between the two warring groups. The complexities of Montezuma's and Cort?s's characters are necessarily glossed over in a volume this brief; unfortunately, only a final author's note explains that the Spanish rule to follow would prove even more tyrannical than that of the Aztecs. Consequently, readers may come away with the false impression that Cort?s was a liberator rather than a conqueror. Ages 6-10. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this bland account of the fall of Tenochtitlan, veteran author Kimmel (The Roosters Antlers, 1999, etc.) tells the tale in a dry, detached tone that robs the incidents horror and violence of any immediacy, while San Souci (Island Magic, 1999, etc.) depicts colorfully costumed Aztecs greeting a noble looking Cortez in spacious, dust-free surroundings, then falling gracefully dead without visible evidence of wounds or disease. Details of dress and architecture are generic, as are all the faces; most of the action, including Montezumas climactic death, takes place offstage; and the attached bibliography of adult histories will be unhelpful to the picture book readers at whom this is aimed. Sally Schoffer Matthews powerful, intense The Sad Night (1994) is a superior choice, both for cultural detail and for quality of storytelling. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In this picture book for older readers, Kimmel and San Souci bring the story of Montezuma's fall vividly to life. This is not an uncomplicated story, yet Kimmel presents it with ease, introducing readers first to the Aztec empire and its ruler, Montezuma. He discusses the unrest of the Aztec's subject people and describes the coming of Cortes, who used the conquered people to help him defeat the Aztec. Also crisply described are the strategies planned by each side to trick the other. Cortes, of course, prevailed, and the book ends at the siege of Tenochtitlan. Using traditional Aztec motifs and bright colors--jungle green, turquoise blue, sunset pink--San Souci does a fine job of juxtaposing the Aztec with the gray-armored Spanish soldiers, who have come to claim the land for Spain. Some of the pictures are static, but the colors enliven even the stationary scenes. This is a good introduction to a pivotal event in the Americas, and children who find the text easy to read may want more information, though the appended reading list seems to contain books that are more for adults than children. Ilene Cooper