Demi,
Marco Polo
Marshall Cavendish, 2008.

Ages 8-11

With illustrations reminiscent of gilt-laden Persian or Indian miniatures, award-winning author-illustrator Demi’s Marco Polo is a magical and illuminating account of the explorer’s adventures. Beginning in Italy at age 15 and culminating with his return to Venice 24 years later, Marco’s travels led to tales so fantastic that few believed him until later travelers, following his routes, confirmed the stories he’d told of the marvelous cultures along the Silk Road and beyond.

Accompanying his father and uncle, Marco quickly proved himself an astute observer and nimble linguist who could intuitively fit in with an astonishing range of peoples. Once in China, “Marco proved so bright and so quick and gave such vivid and true reports to the emperor that he gained the Khan’s complete trust and would serve as his ambassador for the next seventeen years.” In fact, the Khan became so reliant on him that Marco wondered if he’d ever be able to leave. His opportunity finally came when he and the elder Polos were entrusted with the responsibility of escorting a bride from China to the Persian Khan.

Demi’s delicate stylized depictions of the Polos’ experiences, whether with pearl divers, rhinos, pirate ships, or supposedly elephant-eating birds, accompany text that describes Marco’s decades of adventure with clear chronology and dates. At the back of the book, the author-illustrator provides a wonderful blue and gold map of Marco’s travels to the Middle East, across the desert steppes, through China and then back to Italy via Ceylon and India.

As our world becomes smaller and more fragmented, the Polo family’s accomplishments seem ever larger. They traveled 33,000 miles at a time when getting sick or encountering hostile forces could and did mean months or even years of delay. Demi’s author’s note points out that the modern traveler retracing Marco’s steps would need twenty visas and would have to cross eight war zones. Her epigraph aptly quotes Mark Twain: “Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe.” Wise words in Twain’s day, and even more worth heeding in the 21st century. Demi’s Marco Polo offers an inspiring antidote to the fractious attitudes of our own time.

Charlotte Richardson
November 2008