Puerto Rico Books

Beautifully illustrated from its gracious cover to the last page, Rafael L. Joglar made a marvelous work telling the natural history, legends and myths surrounding one of Puerto Rico's most famous frogs, the coqui (pronounced "ko-kee").

In this, his first book, Joglar gives complete coverage to the most common species of the coqui without leaving behind others that can also be found in the Island of Enchantment, beautiful Puerto Rico.

With the use of just plain language, the author gives full detail of their behavior including eating habits and even their mating rituals. It makes a great coffee table book, a gift, or a souvenir from Puerto Rico for people of all ages. But it also makes an excellent reference book with its scientific approach.

Includes a foreword by famous writer Mayra Montero on how this little "creatures" touched her in a very personal way.

Rafael L. Joglar (Biology Professor at the University of Puerto Rico), alumnus from famous herpetologist, Juan A. Rivero (see Rivero's "Los anfibios y reptiles de Puerto Rico / The amphibians and reptiles of Puerto Rico") makes an original rendition to one of Puerto Rico's most beloved species of frogs.

This is the story of Luis Muñoz Marín Puerto Rico's first elected governor and his internal struggle to free his countrymen from dehumanizing poverty vis a vis continuing his quest for independence for Puerto Rico, the creation of a Constitution for Puerto Rico and his failed attempt to create a new political status for the Island, a cross between statehood and full sovereignty within the territory.
The book presents the life of Muñoz as a young man, constantlly trekking between Puerto Rico and the US while pursuing journalism, in both languages and countries, and a career in Politics in Puerto Rico. It also presents the constant intrigue in the corridors of power in Washington during the New Deal years to the Kennedy years in the 60's.

The author, Alex W. Maldonado met and knew Muñoz during his governorship and after his retirement from politics. The story it tells is delivered with authority, unbiased and fully supported by historical documents.

A must reading for Puerto Ricans on the Island and abroad, and for anyone trying to understand the political relations between the US and the Non Incorporated Territory of Puerto Rico

Esta muñeca de papel contiene varios vestidos muy bonitos, hasta uniforme de jugar pelota!

SOLO QUISIERA QUE ME DIJERAN DONDE PUEDO ENCONTRAR ESTE LIBRO PARA LEERLO EN MI PC

Soy la autora de este libro y sin embargo, pensé que mi hija de 4 años estaba muy pequeña para hablarle de autismo. Ni siquiera sabe que su primo es autista. ¡Cuál fue mi sorpresa e inmensa alegría cuando ella misma lo tomó y pidió que se lo leyera! Ahora ella está fascinada con el libro y se lo tengo que leer al menos tres veces al día. ¡Se lo memorizó en solamente dos dias! Yo no tenía idea que un niño tan pequeño podría memorizar 12 versos de 4 estrofas! Gracias a la rima y las ilustraciones muy claras se le hizo muy fácil. Ella tiene mucha curiosidad sobre por qué el niño autista hace esto o aquello. He tenido la oportunidad de explicarle de forma natural que otros niños necesitan ayuda y terapias para hablar, etc. Y he podido hacerlo gracias a la forma positiva y divertida en que se trató un tema muy difícil. Para mí escribir el libro fue una bendición; y que a mi hija le haya encantado la alegría más grande del mundo.

This is a beautiful book on the island of Puerto Rico. It is illustrated with vibrant colors ans reads well. My two year old likes looking at he pictures--the book is meant more for elementary school age kids.

Kate McCaffrey conducted on-site research in Vieques for about 10 years in order to present this very clear history of how the US Navy came to Vieques in the 1940's to conduct military practices and how the people of Vieques were successful in ending the bombing in 2003. I have a guest house in Vieques and keep a copy of Kate's book in each of my rooms so that visitors will know that our "island paradise" has been contaminated with 60 years of munitions and our people made sick with cancer and other illnesses from toxic military waste. I hope that everyone who reads this book will support a safe and complete clean up of Vieques and sustainable development of former navy lands that benefits our people. Kathy

The small town of Angustias, Puerto Rico has many eccentric residents, but few that are dangerous. The predators come from the United States as Sheriff Luis Gonzales faces a crime wave like none that he has seen in his twenty years on the job. It begins when Samuel is locked in a shack by his sister Marisol who wants to meet her boyfriend but she doesn't release him; his parents believe he was abducted.

Luis thinks he was snatched by one of the three sexual predators who have come to Puerto Rico to kidnap children, break them in and sell them on the American sex slave commodity market. One of the pedophiles Anthony Borden is on his honeymoon but in his spare time will break in a boy that they abducted. Ironically, the car crashes, the boy dies and Borden is totally paralyzed. The other monster David Poole is arrested while trying to help Anthony get away and left to the tender mercies of a sheriff from a neighboring area. The third criminal Julie Acevedo is the facilitator who disappears but another child is in a coma and they are waiting for her to regain consciousness to tell them what she knows.

The antagonists in Steven Torres latest tale are thoroughly repugnant and totally without conscience. In a macabre way it is interesting to watch them act normally until they have to conduct their business. This is a frightening story about acting without thinking and parents who don't supervise children. This action thriller is wrapped around a social issue and it gives no answer to the problems of sexual predators, it does open the eyes of the audiences to teen actions and the consequences that result from them.

Harriet Klausner

A beautifully organized guide, "The Orchids of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands / Las Orquideas De Puerto Rico y Las Islas Virgenes" by James D. Ackerman and Maria Del Castillo is a botanist's delight when it comes to identifying orchids commonly found in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Published by the University of Puerto Rico Press, this hardbound, bilingual book allows readers who are admirers of the islands' ecological systems or anything else related to them, to clearly identify the many forms of orchids found on the Eastern Caribbean islands.

The book, which only can be obtained via special order, is beautifully designed and features paintings of many orchids, which I found unique, because it definitely captures the essence of flora more so than a photograph. The book will make an excellent gift to anyone who is fascinated by the island's and their contents. Overall, this is a beautiful, informative book for botanists or botany lovers out there.

Orlando Cepeda was a revolutionary player. He was San Francisco's first homegrown star after the Giants arrived in California in 1958--the great Willie Mays was considered a holdover from the franchise's days in New York. "The Baby Bull," so nicknamed because he was the son of great Puerto Rican slugger Pedro "The Bull" Cepeda, was a tremendous run producer in a time when those players were rare. And in Mays and Willie McCovey the Giants had three of the National League's best. With Juan Marichal as the team's ace, it's amazing that San Francisco won only one pennant. Their inability to win wasn't Cepeda's fault--after leaving the Giants he helped the Cardinals and Braves reach the postseason three straight years--but Cepeda's biggest mistakes happened away from the field.

Beloved by his teammates, Cepeda had problems with his knees and his managers, which together led to five uniform changes in his final eight years in the major leagues. He also had difficulties with his marriage and the IRS, but his lowest point came after his career ended when he served time in prison for trafficking marijuana. In a book aimed at young adults these things are not simple to address or explain, but Bruce Markusen does both very well. It's not just a book about a baseball player, it's a story about a man of flawed character who swallows his sizeable pride and proves to be greater in defeat than he was in victory.

Disgraced in his home country and not entirely welcomed in America, Cepeda started his life anew in plain sight of those who thought of him as a criminal who had thrown away fame, wealth, and respect. He made it back to the major leagues as a coach, but didn't last long in any place. Fittingly, the turnaround came in San Francisco, and the author does a wonderful job of recreating the scene. You can almost see a packed Candlestick Park and hear the roar of the crowd when he throws out the first pitch during the 1987 playoffs. He admits that it was not until that moment that he realized that people cared and accepted him, flaws and all. That is perhaps the book's most valuable lesson--Cepeda paid for his mistakes, admitted he was wrong, and worked to get back the people's trust. While the ultimate reward for most people won't be the Hall of Fame or the cheers of thousands, it is a fitting prize for someone who has fallen on his face while the world watched and judged.

Cepeda has been covered in at least four other biographies--including three autobiographies--but Markusen's version is a no nonsense approach that tells a story well for a young audience that can benefit from the lessons Cepeda learned the hard way. I have read Markusen's other two books on this era of baseball history--The Great One and Baseball's Last Dynasty, which deal with Roberto Celente and the 1970s Oakland A's, respectively--and I would safely call this another success.