North America Books

We just visited Mata Ortiz, and it is great to be able to connect all the faces and stories with the beautiful objects these humble artists create.

This is a great book for all that are curious about Mata Ortiz pottery and the people who make it. If you want to start collecting, it's a great book to have for a reference source. All artists mentioned in this book are of high caliber, as good, some even better than the Native American potters of the Southwest. At this time, these wares are also less expensive and affordable to most people. Hopefully they will be a good investment for the future.

Susan Moesch

A wonderful collection of photographs combined with dialoge about this remote village in Mexico. It describes the journey to get there, then details the lives of the talented people who live there. The photogtaphy is outstanding. A must for any person collecting or thinking of collecting pottery from this village.

"The Many Faces of Mata Ortiz" is a treasure trove of information about the treasures that are the Mata Ortiz people and pottery. It is well laid-out, well written, and well...wonderful!! The only thing that would make my copy better are autographs by Juan Quezada himself and every other potter in the book.

Unfortunately for whatever reason, Juan's son Alvaro is not featured in the book. He is indeed an exceptional artist.

I was able to meet Alvaro and Juan Quezada in Nov 2006 in their family gallery in Mata Ortiz and found them and their entire family to be humble friendly and genuinely thrilled that people love their wonderful creations.

If you have not had the opportunity to visit Mata Ortiz, "The Many Faces of Mata Ortiz" will inspire you to go. If you have, it will make you pine for it and it's people.

Almost 40 years ago Juan Quesada from the village of Mata Ortiz in Chihuahua singlehandedly revived Casa Grande style pottery. This book is a beautifully illustrated account of his success, along with the other artists of the village who learned from him. Becoming familiar with these artists should lay to rest the notion held by many Americans that Mexican imports are second class. These paper-thin pots are as beautiful as any you will ever see. This book has color photographs of many of the potters from Mata Ortiz as well as pictures of their pots. There is information on how the pots are made-- they are all built by hand from native materials, painted with brushes made from the artists' children's hair and fired over cow dung.

The book has a lot of interesting details-- for instance, when the Pope visited Mexico a few years ago, he was given three of these magnificent pots. Another fascinating tidbit is that one of every seven citizens of this village makes these pots. They have gone from doing manual labor to creating works of art.

Owning this book is the next best thing to owning a Mata Ortiz pot.

my kids loved it when the BBC series came out years ago. the concept is good, the story, excuse me, novel. But the execution could be revised somewhat, maybe extended and needs to be less author-driven and the theme as a whole could be taken further. It is a book of its day. but it's still a good read in this time of hit-and-run writing.

When I started reading this book, I thought: "Oh great, a boring story about some girl who's sick in bed. Fun." But, as I got into the book it became incredibly interesting. I started to feel I was Marianne, even though I'm a boy. When she met Mark in her dream as the boy she drew, because her tutor Mrs Chesterfield told her about him, I really felt for him. This book is really and truly gripping, an amazing read. When it ended, I was really sad because I wanted it to go on forever and follow the rest of the adventures and Marianne and Mark.

Overall, this book is incredibly enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone.

I really liked this book. What I couldnt understand was what was wrong with Marianne? I indeed did find it a little scary but more eerie when reading at night. I loved reading it from front to back and I have read it again the same old plot not getting old.

I absolutely loved this original tale that beautifully captures the world of a sick young girl. Marianne is ten when she develops an illness that confines her to bed for several months. She passes time by drawing a house on paper, and dreams feverishly of the same house while asleep. Her adventures in the house with a boy named Marc become more frightening as her illness worsens. In the dreams, Catherine Storr touches on the dream-like fears of the children while in real life they deal with more substantial fears, such as illness and lonliness. Sometimes Marianne's fears turn into nightmares, which I found frightening but still appropriate for children. This is not the case for the movie, Paperhouse, which was way too much for pre-teens. All in all, I'd say that this is a book that crosses all age bounderies and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a simple but facinating story.

And a bit odd too. Parts of the story that are supposed to be scary just end up being mearly curious. I mean I would not be scared by a boulder with an eye. Nor would I constantly eat sausages, like Marianne and Mark do. And they are particulary fond of the word "beastly". Every second sentence contains this word.

I won't go into detail about the story as the other reviews provide enough info but I will say that the book differs from the film (Paperhouse, in which Marianne becomes Anna Madden) greatly. It doesn't feel as menacing nor does Marianne have the same kind of cockiness and early-adulthood intelligence she has in the film. Instead, she's a year younger and seems more childlike. The story of Marianne's absent dad and having him appear in her dreams as a madman is not here either. The evil forces take the form of monolithical stones with eyes. And the stones chase Marianne and Mark?!

Very weird indeed, I'm not quite sure how the physics of that works tho. It's probably all subtextual. But I can't figure it out. The ending is also completely different from the film too.

I wish this book was darker and had a bit more evil in it. The boulders with eyes just don't do it for me. It didn't feel threatening at all. Althogether this a bit of a disappointment. It's not fully engaging or mysterious and seems too tame. I can't figure out what audience Catherine Storr was writing for but it seems a little unmagical for kids and a too tame for adults. Maybe it was different back in 1958 tho.

I loved this book! Marsha Scarborough's journey to the heart of Native American spiritual healing is so human, so vivid, so damn funny, I felt I was with her every step of the way. I loved the reality of it all. Marsha seems such a clear-eyed and practical person. Her encounters with the mystical realm thus seem all the more believable as we share in her own struggle to see beyond the surface, into the deeper nature of things. Through it all, she keeps her own fine sense of the absurd - of how ludircous it is to be offering a cake to the spirit of your dead mother in your own back yard, hoping the neighbors aren't watching! To go from there to the scortching desert ritual dance of the final chapters is such an amazing journey. What a gift that she has shared that journey with us.

I am compelled to write my first review as this book is truly a MUST READ!
Marsha Scarbrough writes in a tone that flows easily as we travel on a journey of Deep Insight and Discovery that leads to Healing. As we travel on the journey along with her, we learn about family, friendship, betrayal, acceptance, joy, and self-realization that all lead to Healing. We learn about the profound revelations and the freeing power of Love & Acceptance as the author takes us with her on this sacred healing journey. Bravo!

I devoured this book, I couldn't put it down. It was so powerful and wise, I stopped a lot to deeply reflect on the content to evaluate my own life. It was so humble and refreshing. You must read this book.

Medicine Dance is so engaging and funny that I couldn't put it down. I hope Marsha Scarbrough is working on a sequel.

Medicine Dance grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go until I finished the book. It's full of life lessons and laugh-out-loud humor. A great gift for your best friends - and yourself.

Looking for an inexpensive educational item? Look no further. Kumon workbooks are excellent.

My Son is 2.5 yrs old and loved this book. He finished it in less than a months time. Yes, they weren't very challenging mazes, but kept the attention of my child for 10 minutes everyday. He liked it so much that everyday he would ask for it himself. I only wish they came in spiral bound or something like similar, so that I need not hold the book for him while he is working.

This is a great product, but geared to younger children as their first introduction to mazes. My 4 yr old son breezed through this book in one sitting. He may not have gotten them all perfect, but it wasn't much of a challenge at 4.

I loved the kumon books.i run a preschool and use the book at my school. each page is full of color and that gets the kids more interested in completing the pages

I bought this book after having the "My First Book of Tracing" as a natural progression. My daughter absolutely loves it; we work on it almost every night.

this book could easily inspire a life of crime--how else to afford the gorgeous contemporary jewelry? or acquire the museum quality antique and archeological collections?

as a knitter, embroiderer and beader, i am always looking for inspiration for my pieces. i may stoop to outright plagarism when it comes to the works in this incredible book. though i will say that i can only dream of having the level of skill the pieces display. the craftmanship, the artistry, are humbling when one considers the tools the artists had--and the reservation conditions under which too much of the art was created.

the text is wonderfully informative, if you can force yourself to read it, instead of allowing yourself to be mesmerized by the photos.

follow the advice of the professional review--buy this book immediately.

My brother-in-law has the exact same title book,his book has over 600 pages! I ordered the book thinking that I would get a similar copy at a great price. I did not realize that I was purchasing an condensed version. The information in the book, although somewhat sparse is good. Thank you.

A few years back I signed up for a class in silversmithing which soon became addictive. In addition to that interest, I have always been interested in primitive art such as that of the American Indians, the cave drawings, Australian Aboriginal art or spiritual drawings. These forms of spirituality and art or of art are very powerful. I have chosen to concentrate my silversmithing designs toward the designs I see from these primitive peoples. The book, North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment has proven to be very helpful toward that aim. In addition to that, it's just plain good reading.

This book is a must-have for anyone serious about studying Native American cultures. It is a fun read, while still being absolutely crammed with information. It's clear the author put in a lot of time and work to master her subject. Not to mention, the artwork featured in the book is beautiful. I love to breeze through it when I've had a hard day, just to feel my spirits lift looking at such amazing works of art. You will learn so much and enjoy the journey enormously.

This gorgeous book is indeed indispensable, especially if "read" visually. Unfortunately, quite a few of the tribal attributions for historic objects (information given to the author by museums) are wrong. Given the scope of this project, Dubin had little choice but to take often out-dated info at face value rather than do her own research. However, readers should keep this caveat in mind when using this work as a reference.

The Sociey for American Archaeology chose this book for its Public Audience Book Award. It is a fine choice.

This beautiful book has many things to recommend it: the importance of the subject, the beauty of the artwork and the photography, the quality of the contributors and the masterful presentation by its author, Dr. Bradley T. Lepper.

Ohio is loaded with treasure for archaeologists. Not one but four ancient Ohio sites are likely to receive World Heritage status from UNESCO in the next few years. These include Fort Ancient, the Newark Earthworks, the Serpent Mound and the earthworks at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe. Just this winter the U.S.Department of the Interior has released a list of fourteen sites it will present to UNESCO for consideration - including all of these. And of course Ohio has even more amazing ancient places and stories to offer.

Such treasures call for stunning images, and there are many here. There are also fascinating contributions by more than twenty of the world's authorities on ancient Ohio. It is hard to imagine a better team to teach this subject. But this is more than a coffee-table book and is not an anthology of independent articles. Bradley Lepper leads us through the story from the ice age to the era of early contact between American Indians and Europeans. He writes wonderfully and is the master of both science and story telling.

Ohio Archeology is a must read, with beatiful photos and illustrations, for those wishing to learn the most up-to-date information on the Native Americans of the Woodland Period. Learn how archeologists decipher the mysteries surrounding the amazing earthen monuments of these early Ohioans.

As a long time citizen of Ohio and long time fan of Archaeology, I should have had a much higher awareness of just how much incredible history there is to be had right here in my home state. While I always had a vague notion that people have lived here in Ohio for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived ... I never encountered any material that seemed to do a very good job of shedding light on this period of the state's history. Well, Mr. Lepper's book does a FANTASTIC job of bringing this part of our state's history the attention it deserves. Great text, diagrams and photos.

Ohio Archaeology is a splendid overview of Ohio's native American cultures and sites. Beautifully illustrated and photographed (including photo's of assembled artifacts) it deserves a place in any collection of materials on the subject.

One of the best acquisitions I've made this year.

Dr. Lepper has written the book I have been waiting for. As a new resident of Ohio, I have been working to understand my new home better, and this book answers many of the questions I have about the earliest residents of this area. I am still reading it so cannot comment on its entirety but it features gorgeous color photographs, helpful maps, and a text accessible to the lay (as in non-professional archaeologist) reader. This book may also answer one of the questions I brought with me from my former home in New Mexico: Where are the builders of the mounds now, and why have so few of their works been preserved? Reading lists and references will help me extend my understanding.