Marco Polo: To China and Back

By Steven Otfinoski

Give readers a timeless biography on the globe-mastering Marco Polo. This book combines accessible text, copious illustrations, and supportive sidebars to trace the life, travels, and legacy of this extraordinary explorer.

• Format: Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761414800
• ISBN13: 9780761414803
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.2" x 10.2"
• Age Range: 11 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 6 to 8

Customer Reviews

Marco Polo To China and Back

Marco Polo By: Nick Hilton Are you into daring and mischievous books? If so, the thrilling book Marco Polo is for you. You can learn all sorts of interesting facts about him for your education plus have fun at the same time. This all started out in 1254 in the small city-state of Venice Italy. At the very young age of six his mother died of an unknown bug while his father and uncle where on a trip to retrieve the great spices, silk and jewels from China and sell them back in Italy for a great profit. When they came back from China, his father and uncle found Marco living with his grandparents and after a while decided to take him back to China with them on another expedition. He had many great and wonderful adventures. He even met the great Kubli Khan. On the way, thieves, pirates and an unknown amount of geographic barriers tried to stop them. When they got to India they learned it would be safer to go around the Himalayas and the Kunlun Mountains than if they got a boat and sailed across the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, the boats available were old and didn't really look like they could float. Instead of iron nails holding the boats together, they were using thread made from coconut husks. They decided to backtrack and go around the mountains to cross the vast Gobi desert. This would add months to their traveling time but they thought it would be much safer on land instead of using those flimsy boats. When they got to the end of the desert, they were about to climb the plateau of Tibet when Marco got extremely ill. But they kept going to the top of the plateau where he remained ill for only a short amount of days. While up on the plateaus he said that "the air is so pure that if you are stricken with any type of illness that you should travel up there and be healthy faster than any medicine can heal you." When the Polos got to China, the Khan was extremely happy to see them and was delighted to hear about their travels. But later on the Khan didn't want them to leave because he liked their "company" and sent them on very important and sometimes deadly missions for him. So, he kept the Polos in China for a good 17 years until his daughter (the princess) was to be married in the country Persia. Then the Khan wanted the Polo family to escort his princess to Persia and later return when the ceremony was over. For this the Khan gave them two solid gold tablets to ensure a safe journey. While Khan was busy with his nation, the Polos converted all of their money into jewels to sew on the inside of their clothes so that bandits, thieves or pirates couldn't get the jewels if they should be attacked. The Polos did escort the princess but never returned to China and from Persia they traveled back to Venice, Italy to live the rest of their lives. When they got back to Venice the other relatives didn't think that they were the long gone Polos because of their ragged clothing and tanned skin. When they ripped open their clothe