Heart of a Jaguar (Hardcover, Turtleback School & Library ed.)

-- "Gripping... a resonant, coming-of-age story". -- Publisher's Weekly, starred review

When famine threatens his drought-stricken Mayan village, Balam kills a jaguar and hopes its heart is the offering the gods desire. His courage, he thinks, proves his manhood. His gift, he prays, will bring on the rains. But the elders say the gods demand more -- a human sacrifice.... "Unusual and arresting... Talbert takes the reader deep into the heart of a Mayan village". -- Booklist, boxed review. "Superb . . . A breakthrough novel". -- Patty Campbell in The Horn Book