Corn is Maize

Author and Illustrator: Aliki
Awards: none
Grade Level: 1st-5th

Summary:
 Corn cannot grow on its own, it must be tended to, which stumbled scientists for years as to how it first grew. They discovered in a Mexican cave the oldest area where corn was grown. When Christopher Columbus came to the new land, the Mexican Indians were already expert corn farmers, and he couldn't wait to tell more people back in his home about this new crop! Corn was also given at the first thanksgiving and has many uses today. Even though corn is mainly grown by machines now, some Native Americans still harvest corn themselves.

Evaluation:
I loved this book! There was so much information that was interesting and can be incorporated into cross curricular activities. I can see myself using this in a science classroom when talking about different vocabulary terms in farming as well as during a social studies unit (especially right before Thanksgiving) to discuss the different Thanksgiving traditions and how they came to be. I would keep this in my classroom library and read it at least once to my class because I really enjoyed it.