Mexico Books

The Grady, Oklahoma, of 1961 was like hundreds of small towns dotting the Bible Belt. Into this setting Lisa Polisar brings a vivid reality in descibing the outwardly bland lives of her characters, until we feel we live next door to people we either pity, fear or hope will move away. Felt by superb narration, and seen through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Jake Leeds, Polisar's keen observations range from the mundane look of hand-crocheted oven mitts to a fetid basement jail cell where sadistic lawman Blackie Savage orders Jake locked up for snooping too much. The summer starts with an initiation ritual by Jake's best friend, Mikey: sleeping alone in "an empty field of coarse reeds and vile secrets" finds Jake terrorized by the moans and shrieks of a young woman. He runs from a bloody apparition of the murdered victim, sensing that if he does not get away he will end up dead like Mary Prairie. Yet, obsessed with tracking down her killer, Jake gradually uncovers a tangle of unlikely relationships that include his family and even himself. Polisar's genius at characterization and regional dialogue breathes life into the colorful residents whom Jake encounters in his search -- unaware that his dogged persistence begins to endanger his own safety.
By novel's end we are taking more discriminating looks at our own neighbors and acquaintences: what stillborn secrets might we pry out of their intimate worlds?
Albert Noyer / The Getorius and Arcadia Mysteries

Lisa Polisar's style of writing moves the reader through the story of Jake and his adventures so effortlessly that you feel that you are Jake. You will be frightened, confused, humiliated, determined and hurt as he is as he moves through this mystery to fruition.

This is a journey you will never regret taking and may want to return to from time to time for the complete escape and pleasure of the experience.

To say this is simply a mystery novel is not enough. Yes, there is a dynamic and dark plot that spreads out and thickens in a way Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud of. There is a cast of diverse characters that create a web of entertaining combinations that keep the story on the road to the inevitable. There is a foreboding sense of what is to come at every juncture. But the unique thing about this story are the brilliantly woven underlying darker elements of the typical American family.
The central character, Jake, takes this story to shocking depths and his demeanor serves to inspire us all. Jake is a classic specimen of the heartland. He knows his surroundings as well as his people. But like so many searchers, fictional or non, yearns for something fierce, and he finds it. Jake's obssession with solving the mystery Sherlock Holmes style is as much a rite of passage is it is a matter of course. The author brilliantly places Jake's deepening distress with his dysfunctional family as a springboard for his ever developing sleuth skills.
Fascinating characters add to the brilliant and efficient pace of this story, which seems to shift emphasis at various points to take in the all-encompassing supernatural nature of the tale. Much like old horror films, deliberately hiding the monster makes it all the more frightening, and the darkness in this story looms just outside the circus of Jake's life. It calls, and he answers. The author takes you on that journey and you read much about what it is to be alive, through Jake. And you thank him at the end of the story, and Lisa Polisar welcomes you.

One might describe The Ghost of Mary Prairie as a coming-of-age story, but it's much more than that.

The protagonist, Jake Leeds, faces up to the terrifying circumstances of his fifteenth summer. Virtually abandoned by his family and goaded on by friends, he sets off on a night of initiation on the wild Oklahoma prairie. The vision he experiences triggers a chain of events that forces the young man to confront his worst fears and struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds.

Polisar weaves the tale in the first-person narrative voice of a male teenager. Maintaining authenticity of voice while transposing gender from author to character is no mean task, a task that Polisar executes expertly in this tense and captivating tale. As the story unfolds, characters and scenes appear vivid and surreal, and the reader is swept up in tides of rushing adrenaline and adolescent hormones, and, along with Jake, the reader is held hostage till the end.

The suggestion of evil is always more powerful than the dissection of it. So, if you're looking for pulpy, graphic description, look elsewhere. This book overflows with implied metaphors and the powerful insinuation of poetic imagery, rendering it literary.

"It was strange being able to sense the formation of the funnel without actually seeing it. The train was moving about fifty miles per hour, and I kept changing my mind about whether our speed was helping or not....From the aisle seat, I watched a sand flurry fill the air...just like someone had yanked up a giant tablecloth. Then the howl started. The rain pounded onto the east windows with fist-sized hailstones on the other side....The train car shook like an old washing machine now. I couldn't imagine it staying on the track. Women shrieked, babies were crying, and the men all had stone-white faces....The funnel thinned out, branched apart, and then braided itself together again, spraying the empty landscape with a destructive fury of grass, rain, hail, mud, steel, and wood, catching and releasing at the same time, using anything in its path to snowball its size."

As for the "suggestion of evil," our leaders and the press broadcast daily messages of fear and future-fear, with no end in sight. This obsession with fear could well be balanced with a message about personal sacrifice, hope, and courage. For an exploration of these virtues, read The Ghost of Mary Prairie, a novel for our time.

"The Ghost of Mary Prairie" is a mystery that's being solved by 15-year-old Jake Leeds. Jakes spends a night outside as an initiation and meets the ghost of a young girl whose murder was never solved. The encounter devastates Jake and he sets out to solve the murder as a way of coping with the encounter. This comes at a time when his family's disfunctions have broken through the surface and rendered his mom, dad and unmarried, teenage sister -- who has just had a baby -- incapable of support or even kindness. His connection to his best friend Mikey is getting frayed as Jake outgrows his immature childhood pal. And Jake has just met his first almost-girlfriend who provides more confusion than comfort.

So Jake's journey toward solving Mary Prairie's murder is a combination of a search for his soul as his life crumbles -- and an escape from his ambiguous and impossible-to-fulfill responsibilities to his family and Mikey.

This is quite the burden on young Jake. But Jake is smart, inquisitive and self-reliant. Desperation has given him strength, so he's up to the task. We eagerly follow him as he unearths clues amid his broken world.

The magic in this book is Jake's voice. Polisar uses first person to put us right in the heart of Jake's ragged spirit. It's a wonderfully rich voice that tells the truth without flinching. That voice carries us well as Jake moves through painful confusion to understanding and acceptance of his family's rotten secrets as he solves Mary's murder.

The country where you were born rarely stops being home. Especially if you lived there for very long. This book highlights a family from the United States whose parents come from Mexico. The parents still feel very strongly that Mexico is home though they are firmly planted in the US. The kids are very uncomfortable with the knowledge. They prefer to speak English and feel that the US is home. What is this place their parents call home? What if they want to stay there? How do their parents really about about home in the US which the kids consider home? It's a confusing dilemma for kids and parents have to have mixed feelings too.

Eve Bunting takes her readers on journey with a Mexican family going home for Christmas. The text she uses is elegantly written. Through the feelings expressed by Carlos and his family you get a real sense of the Mexican culture and the importance of family. David Diaz's illustrations lead you into the journey with Carlos and his family. With the use of collaged background and inset illustrations the pages come alive. The text of Bunting and the illustrations of Diaz give you the sense of being there. This is a book that a child of any age would enjoy.

This book is very touching...it sensitively portrays the sacrafices Mexican immigrants have to make to move to America for their children to have a better life. Very well done themes of parental love, long car trips, the sadness of leaving one's home country, sibling realtionships, husband and wife being romantic (tasteful and age-appropriate), and a child's growing understanding of the complexities of life. Buy and read it to every child (and adult) you know.

This story is well told, with a nice pace and sense of language. Diaz is up to his usual standards, creating a colorful world that you just want to hop right into. Judge this book by its cover - it's beautiful!

Eve Bunting's books have a wisdom that transcends their simple stories. As an ESL teacher and a teacher in classes with immigrant students, I have often shared this book with middle school students and adults. In a brief and poetic narrative, it tells the universal story of parents sacrificing so their children will have a better life, through the eyes of a child. The adults in my ESL classes love it and take it home to read to their children.

Wonderful photos and descriptions. I felt that I had visually rafted the Grand Canyon and since I'm going to do just that in June of '08 I'm more pumped up having seen some of the sights I'll see in person and so lets go rafting.

I recently purchased this book for my boss who when white water rafting in the Grand Canyon. He loved the book, he related to alot of the pictures and was happy to relive the moment again.

What a treat it is to read this book! Page after page of glorious photographs beckon with their beauty. The pictures capture a wide range of scenes--from the river to its vegetation, animals and canyons. A thoroughly enjoyable book to be read and reread.

This book has page after page of remarkable, vibrant photographs. From the extraordinary landscape, to the animals that inhabit the surroundings, to people running wild rapids--this book offers more than just a glimpse into the Grand Canyon. An absolute must-have for everyone-- be it nature lovers, river runners, or if you just want to admire the scenery, I can highly recommend this book!

This is a book I highly recommend to all my friends who are contemplating a trip down the Colorado in the Grand Canyon. After spending two weeks on a raft trip in the Grand Canyon, this is one of the best guides I have seen about the trip, complete with pictures.

I've been down part of the Colorado from Diamond Creek to Lake Mead but have never had the means or opportunity to see the rest at water's edge. Ed Abbey's text and John Blaustein's photos take me on a vicarious trip that brings back all the excitement of white water and the awsome experience of gazing up and up at the canyon's walls that many only view from the rim. It's a different canyon down there and a river journey allows me to see it all and remember the feel of ancient schist and the plaintive song of the canyon wren. It's a book to read and look at again and again even if you can never visit or revisit the river itself.

As a person how recently did a two week raft trip down the Grand Canyon, I can say that this book visually caputures the essence of the experience! The pictures are wonderful. I have recommended it to my rafting friends as well as some Grand Canyon river guides.

Having done the Colorado in a private raft, The Hidden Canyon absolutely thrilled me - again - as much with its elegant pictures as with Edward Abbey's flat-out-fun narration.

Having rafted the Colorado myself 2 years ago, this was a perfect souvenir-reminder of my trip. The photos in particular are exquisite - some I have no idea how he managed to capture without ending up in the river himself. I lost my Pentax to the very first rapid! This book definitely gives a sense of what the Canyon, the river, and the rapids are like. Makes me want to go back!

I have traveled through the Grand Canyon many times, both on the river and on the trails. John Blaustein has not only been able to capture the beauty of the canyon but also the soul of the river it contains. Abbey's journal is a fine compliment to the pulchritude of the pictures.

I am a former fifth grade instructor, a National Board Certified Teacher, and a college professor in Teacher Preparation. I highly recommend the Grandmother Stories series to elementary and early childhood instructors and parents who are homeschooling their children. The books have appropriate vocabulary and tell stories that explain nature in a creative manner. I learned several things I did not know about nature and its interactions from these books. Children love to have the books read to them and to read them to themselves. Duvall and Jacobs are a wonderful creative force as they merge their talents to produce books that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

This review by Melanie Tait appeared in the Spring, 2005 issue of the Journal of the Association for Childhood Education International: This is a delightful retelling of a Cherokee legend explaining how the rabbit lost his long, luxurious tail and how the otter learned to love swimming. It also teaches valuable lessons about pride, deceit and justice. The story is told in language simple enough for young independent readers, but would make an entertaining read aloud as well. The beautifully detailed black-and-white illustrations capture the essence of the story and set the scene for the traditional tale. Even the cover background and endpapers are intriguing. This book would be of particular interest to young people learning about or celebrating Native American cultures. Ages 6-12.

Stories abound in the Native culture about how the rabbit lost its tail, but few are so elegantly presented as this one. The dialogue and the story line keep a child's interest piqued, page after page, and the illustrations are a feast for the eyes. And of course, there is a happy ending for Ji-Stu the Rabbit. Now he can run through the woods much faster "without that troublesome tail!"

Deborah Duvall and Murv Jacob have brought the old Cherokee animal tales back to life with their How Rabbit Lost His Tail and their other titles in this series from the University of New Mexico Press. The old tales, recorded previously in mostly pedantic prose for dusty scholars to peruse, have been rewritten by Duvall in lively and very readable English for young readers and old alike, and they are lavishly illustrated by Jacob. The tales involve Ji-Stu, Rabbit, the Cherokee Trickster, who embodies all the characteristics of man: pride, arrogance, greed, deceit ("The path to the dance grounds followed the river that ran through the Cherokee lands. In some places where the river curved, the water formed deep pools that reflected the river bank above. Each time he passed such a pool, Ji-Stu stopped just long enough to look at his reflection, for he was very proud.") He even occasionally shows courage.
You can't go wrong in picking up How Rabbit Lost His Tail or any of the other beautifully illustrated books in this series, for you will enjoy them, your children will marvel at them, and you may even learn something about Cherokee culture or about human behavior from reading them. (...)

The Grandmother Stories are eloquent, beautifully illustrated tales that recapture the imagination of Native America. Debbie Duvall and Murv Jacob have done a brilliant job of revisiting the mythic world of Rabbit, Bear and Otter, and introducing them to a contemporary audience. These characters are timeless, as are their stories, and readers of all ages will delight in their antics and unique insights. - Teresa Miller, Center for Writers and Poets, OSU Tulsa

This story's ability to to draw the reader in is remarkable. I picked up this book because I was familiar with the author and because of the good reviews. When I finally got the book in the mail I said to myself "what was I thinking!!?"(since the cover art is cheesy, and there was no cover art to look at when I ordered this book... I know... never judge a book by its cover) but I picked it up anyways and started reading... I kid you not, I was held from page one!

Without giving the entire story away, I will summarize briefly here: Set in a time that is pre-european in Mexico during the time of the Aztecs, this story is about a woman named Mixcatl whom we watch grow from tender childhood ages into adulthood. She knows from the start that she is simply different from everyone around her and many instances, some even near fatal, proves her own self suspicions to be true. When she is just a child, she is taken away from her home, which she can barely remember, and sold into slavery. From there she goes on to find her true talent and release in artwork. As she meets new people and struggles to understand what and who she really is and where she comes from, many strange and twisting series and events put her dead in the middle of a conflict and a struggle to save her own life and accept her destiny, even though it has caused her pain, or take the easy road and let all of that go and submit to the will of a bloodthirsty god and that of a whole society of people.

I never thought that Clare Bell would be successful in this story of a big cat after reading another of her books previously, centered around the same type of theme... big cats. (That book is called "Tomorrow's Sphinx" by the way) I expected a somewhat regurgitated and similar story, however I was wrong on both counts and pleasently surprised.

This book is not just for young adults in their late teens, but for adults that enjoy some fantasy and imagination from the stories that they read as well.
And As one who can easily become bored with books that seem to give "history" and tend to overly describe details, this book contained neither nuisance, but left pleasent descriptions about this society that made me forget several times that I was reading a book and not there myself.
Clare Bell, nicely done.

this book is a good book i have it already but i wanted to by another one i juat wanted to say this is a great book and i highly recomended it

Although meant for young adults, this book is certainly one that any adult could enjoy.
For starters, I don't believe there are many fictional books which are incorporated with information regarding the ancient Olmecs and Aztecs. Bell's book is the first I've come across that provides the reader with more than just a brief insight into those ancient cultures. Further, Bell takes her time in developing the plot, prolongs it as much as she can without boring the reader (but who could get bored with anything dealing with wondrous ancient civilizations anyway?), and leads us to a climatic ending. The combination of non-fictional history and a fictional storyline that is absolutely enthralling not only makes the reader not want to put the book down for a minute, but makes the reader feel one with the protagonist and leaves him craving for more. This book has fanned the flames of my love of the history of ancient civilizations. Anyone who enjoys anything to do with ancient history should read this book.

This book is excellent. I read it in 6th grade and loved it. It's length daunted me at first but the content makes it a breeze. It's rich and detailed. You can at time almost believe you could be a were-jaquar as well. It is a rich tapestry. I recommend it to everyone. I was so upset when I found it was out of print.

I first read this book when I was nine years old, and even nine years later I hace never forgotten the gripping emotions I feel when reading it. I am quite an avid reader, usually going through as many as ten books in a week. Naturally, I have come across many different types of books ranging from horrid to wonderful. This story not only managed to enthrall me, it drew me into the story and made me feel like I was there with Mixcatl all throughout the story. I am currently reading it to my eleven-year-old and eight-year-old brothers, and they love it almost as much as I do! This is a fantastic story that every fantasy fan should not be without!

These Knopf Guides are fantastic. They are beautiful little books, they are not quick guides, they are conscious and indepth. The images are well presented and the text highly informative. This book on New York is especially good, New York is unique and lends itself well to a guide of this kind. Highly recommended.

It's the most handy guidebook I ever used. It tells you all the attractions in Manhattan and it doesn't flood you wth words. It organized into sections, so you don't have to fold the map over and over to find where you want to go. If you love to travel by yourself and you don't want to carry a big book around and look like a tourist, you should get this book.

It's only good for Manhattan though.

If you are traveling to NYC, and spending your time in Manhattan, this is the only map book you will need. It's compact, and will fit in your pocket, and is easy to use and to read.

It starts with a map of Manhattan, which is divided into several sections. Each section has a corresponding map. When you open the book to a section, you will see some text and small pictures showing some of the highlights that you may want to see in the area. Then, the page folds out to a detailed map that is large enough to read easily, even while your walking, but still quite compact. The paper is very heavy, and after ten days of extensive use, my book has no torn maps, or even battered edges.

The back of the book has both bus and subway maps, and although they are pretty small, you can still use them to get around on public transportation. The only thing I used to supplement this book was a compass, which helped when we emerged from a subway tunnel, and needed a quick direction.

The cost of this book is only slightly more than a traditional map and is, in my opinion, an incredible value for the money. As a first-time visitor to NYC using this book, I was amazed that I never got lost; not even once!

We used this book on our first visit to Manhatten and found the book to be very helpful. After preparing for our visit with this book, I felt comfortable and a familiarity with the city.

folks, this is the best idea for a tourbook/map that i have stumbled across yet. i'm not prone to raving, but this will garner praise from me until the cows come home (bearing foot & mouth) no doubt.

so, why is this so great? first of all, it's simple and well designed. the city is broken down into sections. you turn to those pages and there is a brief description of places to eat, shop, etc. the pages then open up into a map of the section with a description of major sites in the area.

brilliant! no fumbling around a big map trying to find your street. no squinting to figure out where you are. it's easy to find landmarks, metro stops, etc.

the card stock is nice and heavy and has lasted well even in my back pocket. the descriptions have been helpful without being too lengthy. and at this price, it's quite competitive with other maps while providing much more.

Acabo de comprar la segunda edición del libro y me parece que es excelente, pues trata las ultimas reformas legislativas.

Pocas obras existen en lengua castellana que aborden este tema en forma tan clara y desde un punto de vista legal. Felicito al autor y a Amazon.com por la distribucion de este libro que pienso regalar en esta navidad a varios de mis amigos, clientes y conocidos, pues considero que los puede ayudar en la forma de ver la vida.

He leido este libro, y me parece que cada hogar debería tener una copia del mismo, pues sólo concientizando a la familia de la gravedad de este mal es como puede acabarse.

He leido este libro, y me parece que cada hogar debería tener una copia del mismo, pues sólo concientizando a la familia de la gravedad de este mal es como puede acabarse.

Los autores son dos juristas muy reconocidos en la Ciudad de México y tratan un problema mundial que previene a la sociedad para resolver los brotes de violencia en los hogares mexicanos.Recomendable a todo jurista estudioso, a los padres de familia, presentes o futuros, y a quienes quieran formar una familia.

Desde que leí por Las enseñanzas de Don Juan primera vez y por esas casualidades de la vida, podría decir...quedé fascinada, tanto que por un lado me moría leerlo pero por otro lado era como una especie de dolor terminarlo ya que al cerrar ese libro era como cerrar ese mundo. Es por eso que al recién leer todos los comentarios publicados aquí y encontrar esa misma sensasión en cada uno que escribió siento una inmensa alegría. La verdad que los diversos libros de Castaneda me ayudaron a abrir un poco la cabeza y a desarrigarme un poco más de todo lo que no tiene sentido. Mis saludos para todos, Gaby.

la presencia permanente de la muerte

Las enseñanzas de Don Juan es uno de los libros mas maravillosos que he leido en mucho tiempo,lo recomiendo a todas las personas que tienen una mente abierta.

Durante el transcurso de una vida ocurren una serie de cosas que nos llaman la atención, pero existen otras que van mucho más alla y nos impactan, hasta el punto de cambiar una vida a partir del momento en que ocurren. Creo que eso paso conmigo al encontrar el primero de una serie de libros que son realmente magnificos.Carlitos representa al comienzo el espejo de nosotros mismos, los que estamos insertos en la cultura occidental; seres sofisticados y arrogantes que no creemos en nada aparte de lo podemos comprobar con los cinco sentidos. Me di cuenta que no somos para nada comparables con la libertad que tiene un guerrero. Don Juan decía que no existe una prueba de hombría más grande que seguir el camino del guerrero y esto porque es una de las empresas más dificiles que existe.Al conocer estas enseñanzas me he dado cuenta que hasta este punto de mi vida solo he perdido el tiempo en tonterías, como cargarme de deseos egoistas que al final no sirven de nada. Aunque talve! ! z no lo consiga, creo que seguir el camino del guerrero es lo unico que me queda por hacer, pues para mí en este momento es lo unico que tiene un significado verdadero.Gracias Carlos y sobre todo gracias Don Juan.

Posiblemente este sea uno de los libros mas importantes de mi vida. Descubre un mundo que siempre ha estado ahi mismo, el cual es dificil de percibir debido a nuestra propia tendencia de ser. Desgraciadamente en ultimas fechas ha sido objeto de un extrano culto "new age" propiciado por la mercadotecnia boras. Recomiendo ampliamente este libro pero solo a las personas con una amplia vision de la vida y un enfoque critico de la realidad.

I am gald I was able to get this book and it fit with my budget perfectly and I am glad that I got it.

After having this on my wish list for a couple of years, and I finally purchased it after another trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts. If you're interested in Diego and his contemporaries, this book is a must-have!

Read the editorial reviews first and if you are still not convinced that this book does a good job covering the Big Three than get individual books on each. The text is outstanding and puts the works of art into a political context of the time period. The author is analytical, insightful and definitely well versed in the subject matter.There is an exhaustive bibliography, extensive endnotes on each chapter and spectacular reproductions on thick quality paper stock. There are historical photographs of public works in progress and a varity of camera angles of individual murals to show the enormity of the works. I have seen many of these murals on location and this book does an excellent job of portraying them as they are. When you see a Rivera fresco on a wall at the National Palace live or in this case from a pulled out camera angle and see the railing leading to the next floor being dwarfed by the images it is truly impressive. Looking at the details within the murals is the ultimate visual experience where you can get lost in the picture and the meaning. The closeups and details of individual segments are superior. This is art for the peoples public viewing brought directly to you from Mexico to hold in your hands and examine at your leisure. There are several good books out there on Mexican Murals but this one for the money is outstanding. The three artists each had a distictive style but each brought a unifying nationalistic approach to the walls of public buildings. Is one artist better than the other? You be the judge, everyone has their own favorite. If you are unfamiliar with the works of the Big Three than check it out, you are in for a treat.

This is definitely one of the best books out there for anyone interested in Mexican art. Few books can inspire as much as this one, especially for people from Zapotlanejo, Jalisco. It's loaded with many pictures and chronicles the lives of these three muralistas and has in depth coverage of specific murals, i especially enjoyed the coverage on "History of Mexico" mural by Diego Rivera. This book is definitely worth the price and a great addition to any collection. Orale!

Shows a great variety of each artists pieces and movements through out their career.