Magic Maize, by Mary and Conrad Buff

It took me a few books to figure it out, but our friends Mary and Conrad Buff definitely have a format that they enjoy.  Books too long for a conventional picture book, and long enough to be a short juvenile novel, but printed in a way that allows generous space for rich illustrations, many full-page.

This particular book takes place in Guatemala.  Fabian, our protagonist, lives with his family (parents, two sisters, livestock, and one parrot) at the foot of a hill that holds the CITY UP YONDER, the place that his Mayan ancestors once called home.  His family are largely subsistence farmers, but try to raise enough corn and animals each year to sell some at the market.  This money and the corn they harvest will last them the winter; without it, the entire family will have to hire themselves out to pick coffee berries to survive.

The book begins as the family prepares for the new growing season by burning last year's growth away from their fields and offering gifts to the various gods of their ancestors (and offering Christian prayers as well).  While his parents are away offering one such gift, Fabian's oldest sibling, his brother, Quin, returns.  Quin has vastly disappointed his father by not remaining home to continue the family's traditions.  Instead, he travels the country peddling food and objects from a pack on his back.  Before heading back to work, Quin gives Fabian a gift: 12 uniform kernels of yellow corn that the "gringos" developed from their own Indian corn.  He says that it is growing beautifully and enriching farmers in Mexico and elsewhere.  Fabian is excited about the potential of this "Magic Maize", but knows that his father distrusts the gringos and would sooner throw the corn to the chickens than plant it.

With the help of his friend Augustin, Fabian plants his corn in a secret place on the hillside.  He figures that if his father sees the results, he may be more willing to put his faith in this new corn.  While the friends are digging and sowing their seeds, Fabian finds an old jade earplug that may have once belonged to Mayan royalty.  Impressed by its novelty, Fabian saves it with his other treasures (the usual findings of a small child).

The days pass, and the family's corn grows.  And during the rains, gringos appear. Since his father is away traveling, Fabian's mother makes a judgment call and at the polite request of their Indian guide, allows them to come in until the rain stops.  Fabian realizes that these men are friends of Quin, and the ones who gave him the yellow corn.  They are on a mission from the President, who has commissioned them to dig artifacts from the CITY UP YONDER to preserve them for the people.  Fabian receives his mother's reluctant permission to assist them.

Fabian enjoys his time with the three men.  He quickly learns enough Spanish to converse easily with them, and adapts to their different foods (meat in a can!).  Then the gringos discover a jade ear plug.  Fabian shows them the one that he had found as well; it appears to be a match!  The gringos know that it belongs to him, and agree to buy it from him on behalf of the President.  This offer comes at a fortuitous time, because when they descent the hill together, they see that Fabian's father's corn has been destroyed in a cloudburst.  He can hardly believe that a piece of green rock from the dirt is worth so much money, but he is so relieved that he even agrees that Fabian can go to school (a privilege previously denied as unnecessary).  Fabian also has some of his corn's first healthy ears to show.  It looks like things are turning around for his family.