South American history for kids

All shops for Jungle-tastic Tales

All shops for Inca-tastic Tales

Well-researched legends and history

Aimed at ages 8 and up, the books take kids, teens and adults on epic and exciting journeys through hundreds of years of South American history.

Exclusive extracts from the books

Jungle-tastic Tales:
Introduction

How’s it going? I’m Yacumama (ya coo MA ma). Welcome to the Amazon Region. You've just arrived.

My name means ‘water mum’ in the Quechua language, which is spoken in many parts of South America in various dialects. In the Highlands and Amazon Region of Peru and Bolivia, many people speak Quechua. In Ecuador, they have two main dialects: Quichua de la sierra in the Highlands and Kichwa del oriente in the Amazon Region.

Now, I may be a snake but I’ll be your friend on this journey. Don’t worry! I won’t bite, especially if you believe in legends and magic.

You do? Oh, that’s good because I’m a legendary, magical snake who lives in the Amazon River. The legends say that a fisherman who lived near Pucallpa in Peru a long time ago was the first person to ever meet me. The gods and goddesses of the sky sent down four tapirs from the sky to distract me long enough so that he could escape. Luckily for him, tapirs taste better than fishermen!

Inca-tastic Tales: Introduction

Oh, hey there!

My name’s Cuychi. Just say “CWEE chee”.

As you can see, I’m a rainbow. Rainbows were super important to the Incas. They thought that we protected people and were a symbol of the Inca’s power. A rainbow appeared to the very first Inca nobles when they arrived in Cusco.

Anyway, I’m here to tell you some Inca-tastic tales about Inca people as well as Inca gods and goddesses. Does that sound cool?

Okay then, let’s get started! Here’s a map of where the Inca Empire used to be when it was at its BIGGEST (just before the Spanish came along and destroyed it). This was what it looked like about 500 years ago, which is a long time - even your oldest, smelliest socks aren’t that old! And it was Inca-tastically big! It was 3,400 miles long, which is roughly the distance from London to Dubai.

For a FREE chapter of Jungle-tastic Tales, click here.

For a FREE chapter of Inca-tastic Tales, click here.

Also by Helen Pugh

Paperbacks

Cuentos incatásticos

Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire

Pachamama, diosa extraordinaria

Ebooks for Adults

In English:

Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire

Contarhuacho, a biography

Andean Storm

Map Book for Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire

The Pink Dolphins of the Amazon

Mama Sarpay

Ebooks in Spanish:

Lágrimas de sangre