The Prince and the Coyote by David Bowles (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Prince and the Coyote by David Bowles Fiona Hartley-Kroeger Bowles, David The Prince and the Coyote; illus. by Amanda Mijangos. Levine Querido, 2023 [336p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781646141777 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781646143368 $15.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 10-12 Acolmiztli, Crown Prince of Tetzcoco, is forced to flee into the wild when a Mexica-led coup destroys his family and sends thousands of the Acolhua people into exile. A poet and singer by nature and a warrior by training, the prince names himself Nezahualcoyotl after the coyote who helps him survive. He then embarks on a peril-filled, politically fraught journey to reclaim his birthright and restore his people to their beloved city-state. There's no doubt he'll succeed; as Bowles explains in an author's note, the real Nezahualcoyotl was an Indigenous polymath and king whose return to power at a young age helped create the Aztec Empire. The novel's pleasures, rather, lie in its interweaving of character and cultural milieu, action and poetry, against a backdrop of epic power struggles among sophisticated city-states. [End Page 91] The pre-Columbian world comes brilliantly alive between descriptive narrative and intensely personal poetic interludes that include translations of poems attributed to the historical Nezahualcoyotl. Meditations on the culture's worldview and the diversity of its peoples encompass working-class architecture and agriculture, weaponry and military tactics, Acolhua concepts of nonbinary gender, and more. While all this information frequently strains Nezahualcoyotl's first-person perspective, it conveys a tremendous amount of knowledge and texture. Striking four-color illustrations by Amanda Mijangos enhance the sense that this is a glimpse into a complex world as it once existed. Two family trees, a map, and a Nahuatl language guide prime readers for a dense novel bursting with historical and linguistic detail. Pair with The Sea-Ringed World (BCCB 01/21), Bowles' translation of Mesoamerican and South American myths, for a deep dive into the gods and mythic history of Nezahualcoyotl's world. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois