Marco Polo

This was appealing to me as an adult and I selected it for a gift for a child. Have not heard yet how the recipient liked it.

Not only is this a absolutely beautiful book, (as all Demi books are!), the story was fascinating. I hadn't really read about Marco Polo, and got this from the library for my child. It was nice to read the biography of his early life and personal details, not just the story of his travels. I like how Demi presents the question of whether Polo, and his father and uncle, actually traveled to the places they claimed, fairly. There is apparently question about this, and, as the book says, even his own relatives and friends pressured him on his deathbed to admit he'd made up the stories. However, the things he reported lead one to think he must have been telling the truth about much of it, or how could he have known such wonders existed? In any case, the story is riveting, and the illustrations gorgeous. We all enjoyed this book very much at our house, and I doubt we could find another version told so respectfully and delicately. The historical explanations that give both sides to the question of Marco Polo's claims made a lot of sense, and yet left the book unbiased, while somehow complete. You have to read it for yourself to see if you believe some, or all, of his fantastic adventures.

Marco Polo was born in 1254 in the San Severo Parish in Venice, Italy. He didn't meet his father until he was fifteen years old because Niccolo was a trader who went to far away places. In 1271 Marco went along with his father and uncle Maffeo to China on the trip of a lifetime that not only he would remember, but one that would be remembered for centuries to come. Kublai Khan, who was a very tolerant man, wanted them to bring "the holy oil from the tomb of Jesus" and "one hundred Christian Men" when they returned to China. If Christianity was the true religion, he would then know it. Pope Gregory X sent two letters for Kulai Khan. They collected the oil in Jerusalem, along with two monks who later became afraid and left to return home. The marvelous journey did not stop at Ayas because of the Mamluks bandits, they simply continued on. They visited the site where Noah's ark had landed on top of Mount Ararat, near the Black and Caspian seas they saw "fountains of oil springing from the ground and in the Tabriz they bartered for pearls. All the while Marco was writing in his journal. He wrote about Baghdad, Kerman, the Rudbar Plain and its Karunas bandits, the Persian Gulf, the Silk Route, the Desert of Emptiness, Tunocain and on and on as they traveled through many unusual lands and saw many strange things. In 1275 they finally reached China and Khan invited them to Xanadu where Marco was later asked to be his ambassador. It would be more than twenty-four years until the Polos returned home to Venice, a place where no one, not even their families, recognized them. The art work in this book is mesmerizing and could stand alone without the text. The story of Marco Polo and his adventures was very well written and would be easy for even the most reluctant reader to make it to the end with ease. For the price you have to pay for this book you are receiving a bargain and shouldn't hesitate to snap up a copy. As Marco Polo told a priest, "I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed!" You won't believe how beautiful this book is!