Illuminations Year 1, 3rd-8th Grade

Chronicles the history, beliefs, and everyday lives of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya peoples.  Includes a CD of clip art, and a colored, loose wall chart inserted in a plastic sleeve surrounding back cover. Eyewitness: Aztec, Inca & Maya is a spectacular and informative guide to the rise and fall of the pre-Columbian cultures of the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas, who built vast empires and left behind a legacy of mystery and wonder. Amazing color photographs offer children a unique "eyewitness" view of these incredible civilizations.

Thirteen-year-old Bani, though born in Jerusalem, has lived from infancy with his uncle in beautiful Susa, the city of the Persian King Artaxerxes. Now, his Uncle Nehemiah wants to leave his position of high honor as Cupbearer to the King to return to Jerusalem, a city in ruins and beset by every kind of trouble! Nehemiah's request of the king, permission to return to help his own people, could so easily—in an empire riddled with political intrigue—be misconstrued as treasonous scheming. Bani himself is given an unexpected part to play, the outcome of which is to forever change his life. Seen through the eyes of Bani, this novel dramatizes a turning-point of history, in 445 BC, when—through confrontation and daring risks—Judaism was re-established in the Promised Land, and purified for her unfolding mission.