Adventures of Marco Polo
Starred Review.Grade 5-9–In an age when critics obsess about the blurred line between fact and fiction, Freedman prepares readers for ambiguity right from the contents page. Nothing But the Truth is both the title of his first chapter and a phrase pulled from Polo's book,The Description of the World. Apparently the Venetian's own family doubted the veracity of his version of the 24-year, 6500-mile journey to and sojourn in Kublai Khan's court and begged him to recant on his deathbed. The chapter Did Marco Polo Go to China? presents current scholarship challenging the nobleman's claims, as well as plausible counterarguments. In between, readers find a flavor of the adventurer's early and final years, descriptions of treacherous mountain excursions and raging sandstorms, and details of the splendor and sophistication of Xanadu, where Polo served as envoy to the emperor. The accounts are accompanied by original and archival illustrations and maps; extensive endnotes provide further documentation. Many of the illuminated manuscripts come from various editions of Polo's book; they span several centuries. Ibatoulline's handsome single-page paintings appear at the beginning of each chapter, anchoring the telling, even while the artistic conventions adapt to the culture being depicted. The calligraphic font of the chapter headings and the parchmentlike pages add to the sense of an authentic experience. The author's in-depth narrative style and historian's skepticism require more background knowledge and a longer attention span than Nick McCarty'sMarco Polo(National Geographic, 2006), but the effort will be richly rewarded.–Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.