I T ALL SOUNDS so exotic--trekking
through lost cities in Peru, sitting at the feet of storytellers in bustling Moroccan bazaars, and making a pilgrimage to India's sacred river.
If your kids have a taste for adventure, introduce them to author-illustrator Ted Lewin and his wife Betsy, who have chronicled all these experiences and more in dozens of books for children.
Their latest journey took them across the world to the deserts and steppes of Mongolia, where they met a nomad family and traveled with them to the annual horse racing festival.
In their new book, "Horse Song: The Naadam of Mongolia," the Lewins take readers on a journey through the vast landscape of southern Mongolia to the Gobi Desert. There they witness the heart-stopping excitement as 9-year-old Tamir competes in the race on his half-wild horse.
Betsy Lewin, famous for the hilarious picture book "Click, Clack, Moo," provides cartoony spot drawings of the people and animals, while her husband's gorgeously colored watercolors are particularly effective at conveying action and landscape. Together, they have created a book that brings a little-known corner of the world to life.
Horse fans and adventure lovers alike will be drawn to Tamir's story.
In 1911, Yale professor Hiram Bingham went to Peru in search of Vilcapampa, an ancient Inca city which had been hidden for generations by vines and trees.
Lewin tells the exciting story of Bingham's journey through remote canyons, past thundering rapids and over cliffs. At last their young Peruvian guide led the party to massive stone staircases and enormous temples covered by mosses and thickets.
It was not Vilcapampa but Machu Picchu, "a city lost in time, a city lost in the clouds."
Lewin retraced Bingham's steps to prepare for writing and illustrating "Lost City, The Discovery of Machu Picchu," walking the Inca trail, exploring sacred valleys and high pastures, even sitting in a little cantina where Bingham had stopped.
His trademark watercolor illustrations show the grandeur of the dramatic landscape, contrasting with close-ups of Bingham and the young boy who led him to his historic find.
