Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky

By David Bowles
Paperback: $19.95

Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky is a stunning collection of Aztec folklore and myths passed from generation to generation and, now, writer to reader.

Description

The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great city Tenochtitlan. In this book’s beautiful language, we learn the history of the Creator Twins–Feathered Serpent and Dark Heart of Sky–and how they built the world on a leviathan’s back; of the shape-shifting nahualli; and the aluxes, elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Moctezuma and destroy the very stories we are reading.

David Bowles stitches together the fragmented folklore and mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck’s Ramayana, Robert Fagles’s Iliad, and Neil Gaiman’s Norse Myths. Legends and myths captured David’s imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with epics like the Iliad and the Odyssey. Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that forgotten past.

About the Creators

David Bowles

David Bowles is a Mexican American author from south Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. He has written several award-winning titles, most notably The Smoking Mirror and They Call Me Güero. His graphic novels include the Clockwork Curandera trilogy and the Tales of the Feathered Serpent series, based on stories from his critically acclaimed Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky. His work has also been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as The New York Times, School Library Journal, Strange Horizons, English Journal, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children's Literature. In 2017, David was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. He is online at davidbowles.us and on Twitter at @DavidOBowles.

Awards

  • Best Teen Books

    Kirkus Reviews

  • Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book

    Texas Institute of Letters (TIL)

Reviews

  • * Bowles adopts a narrative voice biblical in tone and scope but vibrant and lucid enough to appeal to an adolescent audience. The tales, filled with beautiful imagery and stark depictions of violence, feature a wealth of themes, including dualities in nature (all mankind arose from the "dual god"), rebirth, and the roles of women, making this title ripe for analysis and group discussions or self-exploration. . . Vibrant and vital, this collection is an essential addition to library collections.

    - School Library Journal
  • * "Lyrical prose raises the narrative to a level suited to high mythological tradition and illuminates the foundations on which contemporary Mexican culture is laid. . . Students of folklore will find a rich trove to mine here. A needed and worthy addition to any folklore collection."

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • "An important, well-written, and compelling text that teaches us about a lost history and the rich and too often forgotten magic of various groups like the Aztec, Maya, and Toltecs."

    - J.C. Cervantes, New York Times bestselling author of The Storm Runner novels
  • "While certainly a treasure trove for storytellers, this is also highly valuable as a classroom resource for units on Mesoamerican history or examinations of how a place's myths are inherently linked to its history."

    - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781941026724
  • Price $19.95
  • Publication Date May 22, 2018
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 0.9375 lbs
  • Page Count 304
  • Hardcover

  • ISBN 9781941026717
  • Price $24.95
  • Publication Date May 22, 2018
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 1.25 lbs
  • Page Count 368
  • Interests

  • Imprint Cinco Puntos Press
  • Audience Young Adult
  • BISAC Category 1 YAN / People & Places / Aboriginal & Indigenous
  • BISAC Category 2 YAN / Literary Criticism & Collections
  • BISAC Category 3 YAN / History / Mexico
  • Themes Folktale / Folklore / Traditional Literature, Indigenous / First Nations / Native American, Latinx / Latino / Hispanic, Nonfiction
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 14 - 18
  • Grade Range Grades 9 - 12
  • Guided Reading Y
  • Interest Level Grades 5 - 8
  • Lexile Level 1010
  • Reading Level Grades 6 - 7
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