North America Books

From the DJ: A terrible monster is plaguing the Anasazi villages of the Southwest's canyon country, so much so that the villagers are afraid to plant their crops. Who will same them from this monster's wrath? The Twins, twelve-year-old sons of Changing Woman, respond to the villagers' cries for help and decide to seek out and destroy this monster, the Walking Giant. Armed with lightning arrows - gifts from their father - and magic feathers, they set out to defeat their enemy, and become heroes of the people in so doing. Immortalized for centuries through the oral storytelling tradition, the Twins now come alive on the pages of this colorful book, a partial recreation of the traditional Navajo story, retold and illustrated by two talented Navajo people.

I liked this book because it was very nice and somehow funny. Mostly I liked the characters in the sroty and what they did to save their village. It is a great book for all ages to read and I enjoyed reading it. I hope everyone that read this book will enjoy it as much as I did.

This was one of the first pieces that Bahe and Vee worked on together. Bravo! I am in awe of Bahe's illustrations and captured by Vee's words. Being a Native American, I can see and read the vision of the two's colaborative work and how they both echo each others impressions of this traditional Navajo story. It should be a part of our childrens plate of literature to consume prior to going to the Euro-Classics.

I ordered this book after my son has completed his "Let's Cut Paper". It is not any harder than the "Let's Cut Paper", but it just gives him more chance to practice his cutting skills.

I love these products. You need to try them. My girls beg to do them.

I bought this for my son who is now 3. He was a bit younger when we started using it, and he loved it immediately. We also paste our cut out pictures onto paper and put them in a binder so he can do "school work" like his big sisters. It's simple, fun, minimal mess and gives my son a great sense of accomplishment. I just ordered about 4 more of the Kumon books to go along with it.

As a teacher staying home with my toddler, I wanted materials for her that would be fun and educational without her catching on to the fact that she's learning something. This fits the bill...and each page has a little reminder to parents of what their expectations should be, so kids don't get frustrated. I suggest getting a few different books together and just doing a few out of each. Mix it up!

My son is 2. We bought the maze,color,and trace books too.Although he likes them all, the sticker and paste books were by far the easiest for him to use at his age.The quality of the paper is wonderful w/ bright colors and a thickness that holds up to a toddler.We use scotch tape instead of a glue stick when I'm not in the mood for the extra clean up! I homeschool our other child, these books make him feel like he's doing his "school" too. I will definitly continue to buy Kumon books in the future.

We have several of the titles in this 'Lets....' series and they are great books to get started on colouring, sticking, tracing etc. My [...] son and I love to work on them and they are wonderful 'instant gratification' projects for young children. Small pages to work on encourages small people to finish each page and get to the next. I would highly recommend them and then for older kids, the next levels - check the ages on the books. Great activity workbooks.

A fantastic book, wonderful illustrations, and lots of items to search for while learning the alphabet with your child. A book that can be read over and over again, year after year.

Growing up in Canada and in this area where these pictures in the book were painted bring back fond memories of my childhood and reading and discussing this book with my kids gave them a better understanding of how the alphabet can be understood, and that there is alot more to our alphabet than we think. This is a great way to extend their knowledge to be more aware of various types of trees, wildlife, flowers, etc... This book is a masterpiece and should be added to everyone's book collection.

Each page has a beautiful, realistic picture with a sentence of alliterations for the letter. Each picture also has a hidden letter, making the book challenging, informative and fun.

Mountain Lion was a wonderful book to read. I had been looking everywhere for a comprehensive book or video on the Mountian Lion of North America and I feel I have hit the jackpot. This book tells you "everything you ever wanted to know" about the Mountain Lion and more. From it's origins and how it relates to Natives all the way to it's current situation. Chris Bolgiano writes with a sympathetic eye and makes you realize how important preservation is not only for the Mountain lion and other animals but for humans too. She speaks about Mountain Lion sightings in places where logging and building houses have eliminated the big cat from these areas. She feels people still see sightings because of their phycological need for wilderness. She made me think more about preservation and the importance of saving our wilderness. I would recommend this great book for any Cat and Animal lovers out there. It could also be interesting for conservationists and anybody who is active or interested in enviromental issues.

This is Ms Bolgiano's first book. I happened to read her second book, The Appalachian Forest, first. I liked that book so much, I had to try this one. I am glad I did.

Ms Bolgiano is both a thorough and accurate researcher and an excellent writer. The text of Mountain Lion benefits greatly from both these talents. It is clear that the author traveled widely and spent much time and money in gaining a deep and expansive understanding of cougars and their dealings with our species before writing Mountain Lion.

Once she started writing, Ms Bolgiano wove a tale of this most illusive and truly wild of our wildlife species that is fascinating and a real joy to read. I have only a short time each day to read. I repeatedly found myself looking forward to my daily reading time as I read this book. Finally, I sacrificed large sections of a few nights of sleep and devoured and gorged until I came to the final page. Once done, I mourned the fact that it was over.

To anyone who has even a tiny interest in wild creatures and how we interact with them, I recommend Mountain Lions most highly. It is like taking a tour of a large portion of our land and gaining a much deeper understanding of the people and wildlife of each area. Equally beneficial, one comes to a better knowledge of and a deeper respect for our great, wild, American cat. Reading Mountain Lions, An Unnatural History of Pumas and People, is time extremely well spent.

The reader can tell that a great deal of research went into this book. It is also obvious that the author loves and respects her subject. If a myth about this animal needs to be broken she does so- but graciously. It was especially hard to read about the state of the Florida panther and how they are now so inbred it really is better to bring in the Texas animals to breed. Most of all it is Bolgiano's writing that carries the book- wave after wave of clear, precise prose.

"Muskrat Will Be Swimming" is the inspiring story of a native American girl who, with the gentle guidance of her grandfather, learns to find strength in her identity as a native American living in the broader American society. Elegantly illustrated by Robert Hynes, "Muskrat Will Be Swimming" also includes the Seneca creation story and demonstrates how such ancient tales of native American cultures can be utilized to help children find their way in the world. Author Cheryl Savageau has written a superb story that will entertain and inspire young readers in grades 3 through 6. Enhanced with a 'Teachers Take Note' section devoted to suggestions for activities and thematically appropriate resources, "Muskrat Will Be Swimming" is an award winning and very strongly recommended addition to elementary school and community library picturebook collections.

I am the author of Muskrat Will Be Swimming. Thank you to everyone who's contacted me about getting a copy. MUSKRAT will be republished by Tilbury Books in Spring, 2006, in paperback. Look for it!

I love this book and so does my six year old son. Very sensitively deals with namecalling. The young girl's grandfather sees that she is upset and by telling her a native amercian tale helps her find pride in her heritage and herself. Weaves together the present day story of the girl with the folktale very well.

"Muskrat Will Be Swimming" is the inspiring story of a native American girl who, with the gentle guidance of her grandfather, learns to find strength in her identity as a native American living in the broader American society. Elegantly illustrated by Robert Hynes, "Muskrat Will Be Swimming" also includes the Seneca creation story and demonstrates how such ancient tales of native American cultures can be utilized to help children find their way in the world. Author Cheryl Savageau has written a superb story that will entertain and inspire young readers in grades 3 through 6. Enhanced with a 'Teachers Take Note' section devoted to suggestions for activities and thematically appropriate resources, "Muskrat Will Be Swimming" is an award winning and very strongly recommended addition to elementary school and community library picturebook collections.

I am the author of Muskrat Will Be Swimming. Thank you to everyone who's contacted me about getting a copy. MUSKRAT will be republished by Tilbury Books in Spring, 2006, in paperback. Look for it!

I love this book and so does my six year old son. Very sensitively deals with namecalling. The young girl's grandfather sees that she is upset and by telling her a native amercian tale helps her find pride in her heritage and herself. Weaves together the present day story of the girl with the folktale very well.

Is it the trees or the art? This book is just really beautiful.... they have all of my favorites, too, like persimmon and aspen ;-) Buy this for your kid and they'll become a tree major like me hehehe

My Favorite Tree by Diane Iverson features specific gifts trees have for children. It inspires me to write a family book on how trees have had special meaning for me in my life. However, her illustrations and discriptions would be difficult to match. As it includes trees from many areas of the country I would think all children and adults could identify with this beautiful book -- which by the way includes detailed facts also.

It has interesting facts about historic uses; native American, colonial settlers and pioneers of the westward movement. Also covers the many ways trees are vital to wildlife. My kids liked the maps of the trees native habitats. The detailed art work gave a good representation of the trees.

This book is an incredible account of the life and times of Mary Jemison, a white woman taken captive during the French and Indian War and adopted into the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois in western New York. This tale covers her more than 70 years living among them through many of the most vital years of the long history of the Iroquois Confederacy.

In November 1823, when she was in her 80s, Mary Jemison, at the urging of many of the friendly local inhabitants, gave her amazing life story to James Seaver to publish for posterity. Though his truthfulness in some details of that account has often been called into question, this book is one of the most important and complete of any of the Indian captivity narratives to come out of the period between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812, which most historians mark as the end of the period of influence of the Eastern Woodland tribes. This account gives unequalled insight into the Seneca Indians and their ways including religion, food, hunting, warfare, culture, etc.

Mary had many opportunities to leave the Indians and return to white civilization but chose not to do so and thus was witness to some of the most amazing events in the history of her adopted people. Her tale is important to not only historians and ethnologists, but to the general public itself as it is a truly amazing story of triumph and tragedy for a proud people struggling to survive in the face of overwhelming odds as a young United States continued to expand, forever extinguishing their way of life.

The narrative is fascinating reading, both in terms of the history revealed in the words of Mary Jemison and in terms of James Seaver who gives us his own version of her story. The effect is a layering of historical periods. With the help of the editing, you can peer through and see not only the period of Mary Jemison's captivity, but also the prejudices of the following time. An interesting example of the simultaneous respect and loathing with which the early settlers viewed the native inhabitants. I first read the narrative in high school, and would recommend it for young and old readers alike.

They say if you visit New York State you will find her descendants; many native-americans have her last name. Taken captive; her parents killed - Mary becomes part of a native-american family. She married a Delaware (Lenape) warrior, with whom she was very content and has many children. This is a dramatic, true story, told in her own words. She is in her 80's, and reminisces about her unusual life.

Very nice little handbook, easy to take with when camping or traveling, even to use in the backyard when you spot a different butterfly. Great colors and descriptions!

For a book with the "footprint" of a postcard, this guide has a boatload of useful information and truly superb photos. The descriptions are brief but highlight a few interesting facts about each species; all contain basic entries about identification, habitat, range, and life cycles. Each entry is accompanied by a gorgeous full color photo of the butterfly viewed from above and a smaller side view (the latter are so small that their usefulness is somewhat compromised, but they're better than nothing). No photos of the caterpillars.

The size makes it very convenient for use while observing. Species pictures on the left hand pages in the upper left corner are most useful when the pages are fanned for quick identification. Information on that particular member of the species is excellent.