PEOPLE OF CORN

The third book by these collaborators (How Night Came from the Sea, 1994, etc.) is a Mayan creation myth--accompanied by colorful, primitive paintings--prefaced first by an author's note, and then by details on the Maya's respect for corn. At last the tale begins, with Plumed Serpent and Heart of Sky's disappointment that the animals they create can't praise them. They make humans: Their first efforts are soulless wooden puppets; their second try results in people made of corn who worship them. As is true of Deborah Nourse Lattimore's Why There Is No Arguing In Heaven (1989), it's grand to have fallible gods, but this story is full of distancing devices (e.g., the phrase ""the Maya believe that"") that detract from its immediacy. Useful; bound to leave readers wanting more.