Rain Player

After seeing the incredibly intricate and lovely paper cut out artwork, I ordered every book I could find by this author/artist. If you didn't even read the story, the book would be worth it for the art! But the story: wonderful! I also really liked the last page, in which the author describes in minute detail any variation from the original legend, so there is good historical info there, too. I highly recommend all these books! You will be delighted.

We read this as part of our ancient American study of the Mayans. The boys really liked it. The illustrations are superb and bring a lot to the story. The story itself is sensational, as are most legends/fairy tales, but that's what makes it fun. Valuable addition to study for the Mayan culture. It makes it very easy for the little ones to feel involved too. *taken from my review at goodreads

This book was read to our group of "age over 50" adults touring Guatemala by our guide on the trip; and it swept us up into the culture of the Maya, whose beautiful land and ruins we were visiting. The illustrations are truly magical. Give this to someone who is about to see Guatemala or the South of Mexico. Lovely!!

The chief attraction of "Rain Player" are the pictures by author David Wisniewski, which are made from astounding multilayered paper constructions. Just look at the first two-page spread at the start of the story, where Wisniewski cuts dozens of Mayan characters into the charts and calendars being consulted by the old priest. Then there are the marvelous details on the pots and the sacred figure. If there was half as much detail these pictures would be wondrous indeed. But the story being retold is also pretty good as well and it involves playing one of the most interesting sports of the ancient world. The story is set after a year of terrible drought at a time when the Mayan people are resigned to starvation. However, there is a young man named Pik, who spends his time playing pok-a-tok with his friends. This was the favorite game of the Mayans, a sort of combination of soccer and basketball, played with a solid rubber ball on a walled court. The goal is to send the ball through stone rings that are on the walls over their heads, but you can only use your padded hips, shoulders, and forearms (not your hands or feet). You might have heard of this game being played where the losers were executed, but usually the winning team just collected the jewelry and clothing of the spectators rather than the heads of their opponents. But when the Ah Kin Mai projects a year of terrible drought, Pik scoffs. The next thing he knows he is flying above the clouds and being confronted by Chac, the god of rain. The bold Pik proposes a wager: they will lay a came of pok-a-tok. If Pik's team wins two games out of three then the people will earn Chac's forgiveness and it will rain again. But if he loses, Pik will become a frog and croak Chac's name forever. Of course, Pik does not want to be a frog (but as his father points out, Pik should have thought of that before he insulted Chac). Young readers will anticipate which side will win, but will surprise them is the team that Pik assembles to play the pok-a-tok match. But then mere mortals are not the best teammates when you take on a god. It would be interesting to see more details about playing pok-a-tok, but you can appreciate that showing more than how the goal in each game would be a major task for Wisniewski, who makes sure that each two-page spread offers something different from the others. Because in the end you keep coming back to the stunning artwork of "Rain Player." Actually, it is quite intimidating: I can not imagine deigning to ever trying to cut out anything with construction paper ever again having seen what wonders Wisniewski has wrought here.

The Rain Player By Caldecott Award Winner, David Wisniewski is one more example of his fantastic story telling ability across many cultures. This book makes an excellent Read Aloud for use in ancient mesoamerican (particularly Mayan) studies. The author did research the culture before writing.