Central America Books

This book is excellent for young adults to learn about the historical and economic impact the Panama Canal had in the world. As an enthusiastic teacher, I plan on purchasing more titles from this publisher.

Buzz Buzz Buzz is a delightful picturebook story of two children whose attempts to sleep are foiled by the incessant buzzing of an intruding mosquito. Among all the animals the children go to for help, including the monkey, snake, crocodile, and the owl, only the frog can solve their mosquito problem. The vibrant, scratchboard-style illustrations perfectly fit the innocent story. As a bedtime book that actively encourages the joy of delicious sleep, Buzz Buzz Buzz is an excellent picturebook for parents to read to young children just before turning out the lights.

ESTE PINCHI LIBRO ESTA A TODA MADRE.VIVA EL NORTE

This description of the Caddo verb delves into some very interesting linguistic topics, including polysynthesis, agentive person marking (split intransitivity), absolutive person marking, the specification of an indefinite "defocusing" person, noun incorporation, and realis vs. irrealis modality.

Melnar ably demonstrates the wonderful richness of the Caddo verb (e.g. she describes 23 morphological position classes and 26 pronominal forms divided into realis and irrealis sets). However, despite this morphological complexity, Melnar manages to achieve remarkable technical clarity. For example, she identifies 123 Caddo markers of tense, aspect, and mood. Not only are all of the relevant concepts of these markers defined (e.g. andative, cislocative, durative, hortative, prioritive, etc.), at least one example of each marker's use is provided!

While this book is primarily geared toward linguists (and would make a great reference book for grammatical description - the index is very complete and there is ample cross-referencing), it also provides an invaluable insight to the logical expression of a conceptional system that is little documented and largely disappearing (and thus is of considerable interest to anthropologists, psychologists, and anyone interested in what it means to be human). If you adhere to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (that there is a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it), you will appreciate Melnar's contribution to our understanding of Native American world-views - and humanity in general.

This is an exceptional book written by a scholar who lives in Cahokia and has devoted her life to the village as a resident, librarian, and mayor. Cahokia, Illinois, is rich in history and continues to be a thriving community. Cahokia was settled in 1699, making it one of America's oldest. History buffs and trivia buffs as well as anyone looking for something new and different will find this illustraton-packed book fascinating!

I enjoyed reading about the founding of the CA Missions. It is easy to read & understand. Great for all ages.

Walters' lucid prose manages neither to talk down to the reader nor get too academic. This is intended as a college-level text but I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in poetry in Spanish.

Some background with Spanish poetry and the language is helpful, although it is not necessary. Every quote (they are frequent and generous!) is followed by an English paraphrase in clear prose. Walters surveys generally at first then breaks everything down by genre: Epic, Ballad, Songs and Sonnets, Love poetry, Religious and Satire/Burlesqe.

His theoretical framework is informed by Harold Bloom's idea of 'the anxiety of influence' but thankfully not overwhelmed by it. I learned an enormous amount about poetry, not just Spanish poetry, by reading this book. Walters impressed me as a sensitive reader and critic.

Authors quoted in this book include: El Cid author, Manrique, Luis de Gongora, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Jose de Espronceda, Jose Hernandez, Becquer, Miguel de Unamuno, Dario, Antonio and Manuel Machado, Vicente Huidobro, Pedro Salinas, Gerardo Diego, Lorca, Borges, Rafael ALberti, Luis Cernuda, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, Blas de Otero, Ana Rosetti, Gioconda Belli and more.

This book took me on a deep journey through the indigenous peasant world of Campesino a Campesino, a fascinating movement working for food sovereignty and environmental sustainability. I had no idea of its existence or of the dramatic struggles of its protagonists. On one hand, it is told through the eyes of the peasants themselves as they brave repressive regimes, war, globalization and poverty. On the other, the author weaves in his own observations and thoughtful analysis of how and why these events occur. It is powerfully and passionately written, without losing any of its sharp analytical edge. I learned a lot from this book, and will use it in my teaching and simply to share in the wisdom of the peasants.

I just want to say that the thing I loved about this book was the illustrations. I LOVED how so many women were depicted carrying their babies around in various slings. Such a good message wrapped up in a sweet story.

In this very thought provoking book, Hugh M. Hamill has selected a multitude of texts in order to give the reader a multidisciplinary outlook of the phenomenon of caudillismo. Articles by historians, political scientists as well as caudillos themselves allow for the neophyte to take a peek into this the world of these great and not so great leaders of Latin America. This book is a must for anyone with an interest in the particular world of Latin American politics.