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Scientists in the Field
Anthropologist: Scientist of the People
Imagine making your living by hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants and insects. Imagine having to worry about being attacked by a jaguar or some other wild animal. This is how our ancestors lived for hundreds of thousands of years, but only a few peoples carry on this ancient lifestyle today. One of the few are the Ache, hunter-gatherers living in Paraguay, a country in South America.
Magdalena Hurtado is an anthropologist who has been studying the Ache for fifteen years. She has spent years living with the Ache people: learning their language, observing their history. The photographs and text offer invaluable insight into the work of an anthropologist.
Magdalena Hurtado is an anthropologist who has been studying the Ache for fifteen years. She has spent years living with the Ache people: learning their language, observing their history. The photographs and text offer invaluable insight into the work of an anthropologist.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
64 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2001
About the author
Mary Batten
31 books7 followersMary Batten is an award-winning writer for television, film and publishing. Her many writing projects have taken her into tropical rainforests, astronomical observatories, scientific laboratories, and medical research centers.
She is the author of many books for children. The most recent are Life in Hot Water: Wildlife at the Bottom of the Ocean (Peachtree 2021), NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12; Life in A Frozen World: Wildlife of Antarctica (Peachtree 2020) and Spit: What's Cool About Drool (Firefly 2019). Other books include: Baby Orca (Penguin Random House 2016); Rattler (Penguin Random House 2016); Please Don't Wake the Animals: A Book about Sleep (Peachtree 2008); Who Has A Belly Button (Peachtree 2004); Aliens from Earth ((Peachtree 2003) – 2006 Isaak Walton Conservation Book of the Year Award; Selected by New York City Public Schools in support of 4th grade science requirement for the study of ecosystems (Revised & updated edition Peachtree 2016); Hey, Daddy! Animal Fathers and Their Babies – Named Outstanding Science Read Aloud 2003 by the National Association for the Advancement of Science (Peachtree 2002); Wild Cats (Penguin Random House 2002); Anthropologist: Scientist of the People -- Named Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children by the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council (Houghton Mifflin 2001); Hungry Plants (Penguin Random House 2000); The Winking, Blinking Sea -- Named one of the Best Children's Books for 2001 (Millbrook Press, 2000); Extinct! Creatures of the Past (Golden Books, 2000); Baby Wolf (Grosset and Dunlap, 1998); Sexual Strategies: How Females Choose Their Mates, (Tarcher/Putnam, 1994; reprinted with new introduction by iUniverse 2008); Nature's Tricksters (Sierra Club Books/Little Brown, 1992), Discovery By Chance (Funk and Wagnalls) and The Tropical Forest: Ants, Ants, Animals and Plants (T.Y. Crowell). She has appeared on OPRAH. TOM SNYDER and various other television shows and done many radio interviews.
Her magazine articles are published in a variety of publications, including the online journal Pie & Chai, and print ppublications Cosmopolitan, Ladies Home Journal, Modern Maturity, Shape, International Wildlife, National Geographic World, ZooNooz, Science Digest, Calypso Log, and Dolphin Log.
Mary Batten was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the Children's Television Workshop's science series 3-2-1-CONTACT, and she has written some 50 nature documentaries for television series, including the syndicated WILD WILD WORLD OF ANIMALS (Time-Life Films) and others for National Geographic and Disney Educational Films.
Her magazine article for Science Digest, "Sexual Choice: The Female's Newly Discovered Role," won The Newswomen's Club of New York's Front Page Award for best feature story.
She was editor of The Cousteau Society's award-winning membership magazine, Calypso Log, for six years.
She was married to the late composer Ed Bland. They have two children.
She is the author of many books for children. The most recent are Life in Hot Water: Wildlife at the Bottom of the Ocean (Peachtree 2021), NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12; Life in A Frozen World: Wildlife of Antarctica (Peachtree 2020) and Spit: What's Cool About Drool (Firefly 2019). Other books include: Baby Orca (Penguin Random House 2016); Rattler (Penguin Random House 2016); Please Don't Wake the Animals: A Book about Sleep (Peachtree 2008); Who Has A Belly Button (Peachtree 2004); Aliens from Earth ((Peachtree 2003) – 2006 Isaak Walton Conservation Book of the Year Award; Selected by New York City Public Schools in support of 4th grade science requirement for the study of ecosystems (Revised & updated edition Peachtree 2016); Hey, Daddy! Animal Fathers and Their Babies – Named Outstanding Science Read Aloud 2003 by the National Association for the Advancement of Science (Peachtree 2002); Wild Cats (Penguin Random House 2002); Anthropologist: Scientist of the People -- Named Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children by the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council (Houghton Mifflin 2001); Hungry Plants (Penguin Random House 2000); The Winking, Blinking Sea -- Named one of the Best Children's Books for 2001 (Millbrook Press, 2000); Extinct! Creatures of the Past (Golden Books, 2000); Baby Wolf (Grosset and Dunlap, 1998); Sexual Strategies: How Females Choose Their Mates, (Tarcher/Putnam, 1994; reprinted with new introduction by iUniverse 2008); Nature's Tricksters (Sierra Club Books/Little Brown, 1992), Discovery By Chance (Funk and Wagnalls) and The Tropical Forest: Ants, Ants, Animals and Plants (T.Y. Crowell). She has appeared on OPRAH. TOM SNYDER and various other television shows and done many radio interviews.
Her magazine articles are published in a variety of publications, including the online journal Pie & Chai, and print ppublications Cosmopolitan, Ladies Home Journal, Modern Maturity, Shape, International Wildlife, National Geographic World, ZooNooz, Science Digest, Calypso Log, and Dolphin Log.
Mary Batten was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the Children's Television Workshop's science series 3-2-1-CONTACT, and she has written some 50 nature documentaries for television series, including the syndicated WILD WILD WORLD OF ANIMALS (Time-Life Films) and others for National Geographic and Disney Educational Films.
Her magazine article for Science Digest, "Sexual Choice: The Female's Newly Discovered Role," won The Newswomen's Club of New York's Front Page Award for best feature story.
She was editor of The Cousteau Society's award-winning membership magazine, Calypso Log, for six years.
She was married to the late composer Ed Bland. They have two children.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 24, 2011
Mary Batten writes about her experience as both an anthropologist and specifically her work and study of the Aché tribe located in rural Paraguay. She describes the customs, culture, art, and daily living of this hunter-gatherer tribe, as well as their rich history, relatively unchanged first by Spanish colonialism, and presently by transnational globalization. With vivid, dynamic photographs by A. Magdalena Hurtado and Kim Hill included, readers will both see and read about how this indigenous tribe continues to maintain their traditional way of living. Above all this book is an excellent introduction to children about the history and continued presence of the First People living in the Americas.
October 13, 2010
Portrait for children of an anthropologist who studies the Ache people of Paraguay and specializes in evolutionary ecology. Intelligent account of doing cultural field work and of life in one of the last extant hunter-gatherer cultures (the Ache live on a reservation, but are permitted to forage in the adjoining national forest, so long as they confine themselves to traditional methods).
December 1, 2016
This was a good book to read about what scientist do. It is a good window book for kids to look into what it is exactly that scientist do and how many different scientist there are. I loved reading this book and learning about everything in it!
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November 27, 2019In "Anthropologist", author Mary Batten offers a unique insight into our ancestors, and the traditional lifestyles of indegenous peoples. however, rather than compose a non-fiction text full of facts and disconnected ideas, Batten tells the amazing true story of the Ache people: how they live, eat, and their cultures. She does so by telling a story of famous anthropologist Magdalena Hurtado, who dedicated her work to studying the science of people: anthropology. In order to better understand these indegenous lifestyles, Hurtado dedicated her life to studying the Ache people by living among them and documenting her studies and findings. In this book, the readers get to experience the exciting life of an anthroplogist living among an entirely new set of people with new traditions, cultures, and values that offers clues into our past and the way our ancestors all once lived.
Not only does this book present its readers with lots of exciting information and interesting insight into the science of humans and our cultures, it is completely non-fiction and factual. I found this book very enjoyable because I am normally bored by non-fiction books; however, the way that Mary Batten presents the facts in a story telling voice helps make it much more interesting. The photographs in the book were beautiful, and truly helped the reader step into the lives of these indegenous peoples, as well as Hurtado's experiences with them.
I believe that this book could best be used in a classroom with an integrated social studies lesson or unit. By reading this book as a read-aloud to the whole class, the teacher could use it to introduce a unit on studying different cultures/heritages. After reading, students could begin doing research on their own cultures (if they don't know/are unable to find out their cultures, they can choose one that is interesting to them to research. Students could then create a mini presentation about the culture, bringing in items to help represent them, pictures, videos, etc. This allows students to master not only a social studies standard, but integrate literacy through learning about cultures through a read-aloud, and conducting and presenting research.
Not only does this book present its readers with lots of exciting information and interesting insight into the science of humans and our cultures, it is completely non-fiction and factual. I found this book very enjoyable because I am normally bored by non-fiction books; however, the way that Mary Batten presents the facts in a story telling voice helps make it much more interesting. The photographs in the book were beautiful, and truly helped the reader step into the lives of these indegenous peoples, as well as Hurtado's experiences with them.
I believe that this book could best be used in a classroom with an integrated social studies lesson or unit. By reading this book as a read-aloud to the whole class, the teacher could use it to introduce a unit on studying different cultures/heritages. After reading, students could begin doing research on their own cultures (if they don't know/are unable to find out their cultures, they can choose one that is interesting to them to research. Students could then create a mini presentation about the culture, bringing in items to help represent them, pictures, videos, etc. This allows students to master not only a social studies standard, but integrate literacy through learning about cultures through a read-aloud, and conducting and presenting research.
July 15, 2024
- Takes place in Paraguay 🇵🇾-
Wonderful book! Fascinating and I learned a lot, both about the Ache people and about the work of an anthropologist. I especially appreciated the open and respectful attitude of Magdalena Hurtado, the anthropologist who is highlighted here, towards the people she has studied, becoming long-time friends with the community and even bringing her own children to join them on trips through the forest. Would enthusiastically recommend it to share with students.
The one down side is, I would have liked for it to be longer, especially the parts about the Ache people’s lives in the forest. I felt like I was just getting into it when suddenly it was over. It seemed like a quicker read than others I’ve read in the Scientists in the Field series, but that possibly has to do with it being an earlier book than others.
Wonderful book! Fascinating and I learned a lot, both about the Ache people and about the work of an anthropologist. I especially appreciated the open and respectful attitude of Magdalena Hurtado, the anthropologist who is highlighted here, towards the people she has studied, becoming long-time friends with the community and even bringing her own children to join them on trips through the forest. Would enthusiastically recommend it to share with students.
The one down side is, I would have liked for it to be longer, especially the parts about the Ache people’s lives in the forest. I felt like I was just getting into it when suddenly it was over. It seemed like a quicker read than others I’ve read in the Scientists in the Field series, but that possibly has to do with it being an earlier book than others.
March 8, 2020
Quick and simplistic view into anthropological study of people and cultures that is easy to read, understand and learn from!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews