North America Books

This superb little 159-page guide includes 47 pages describing a bit about naturalists, the history of bugs, their different types, how to identify and distinguish them--and even a few pages on endangered bug species.

What follows are 101 gorgeous, illustrated pages describing the appearance, habits and environments of everything from flies and grasshoppers to katydids and aphids. Kids also learn about boll weevels, moths and butterflies, and common pests and parasites like mosquitoes and ticks.

The book also includes a two-page glossary, two page list of additional resources, and a four-page alphebetized index.

A great starter book for insect lovers of all ages, but especially kids.

As a hmoe schooling mom this has been an excellent tool for the kids. They can look up all the bugs they find at anytime the decide to go bug hunting. It is simple and easy to use. a wonderful resource.

This book (actually the whole series) is wonderful! I have a 4 year old who just loves to page through it and examine all the different kinds of insects. We use this one to identify all the different kinds of bugs that we run into on our walks. The photos alone are worth the purchase price, but the descriptions are also wonderful. I think these are the best field guides out there.

This is THE best field guide for kids. It has excellent photographs and covers many different types of insects, including some regional ones. It is not only appropriate for young children who can only enjoy the pictures, it is also a great book for older children, up to about 12 or so. Any child who has an interest on learning about insects, spiders included, will enjoy this book and its wonderful pictures.

I love this book. Filled with VIVID photographs, this guidebook is compact and durable and begins with a short introduction (a few pages) devoted to teaching about anthropods in general. We use this book all of the time, from identifiying bugs on neighborhood walks, excursions to area parks, or just in the backyard (and sometimes in the house). I can also credit this book for curing my son's phobia of insects. When we saw a bug he was scared of, we'd grab this book and identify it. Looking at the bug and identifying its parts and then being able to call it by name did wonders in alleving his fears! I do wish that this book had more information associated with each insect...such as what it eats and what eats it. But, as a beginner guidebook, this one is exceptional!

While I found the book, on the whole, to be an interesting entry in a historical space that is lightly populated; meaning that few books are written about the Indian culture during Colonial times and the impact of expansionism on their culture, I felt there were aspects of the book that adversely affected its quality:

1. The detail surrounding the land, colonial speculation (including Jefferson's holdings) and the treaties to expand the colonies' territory to be excessive and ineffective in their attempt to connect Jefferson's said holdings with an overall strategic conspiracy.
2. The book's focus on Jefferson's interest and approach to the American Indian, while interesting and keeping with the title, limited the potential of the book which, I believe, would have been better served if the premise focused more on the colonies' overall perspective and dealings with the Indians. This would have included a more extensive overview of the interaction of the specific tribes, the impact of the six nations and how this interaction diluted or enhanced the Indian culture.
3. I don't believe that it is contradictory for a man of science (based on Jefferson's interest in language and culture correlations and origin), to suggest that certain tribes represented a real threat to the safety of citizens that were, technically, the responsibility of Virginia and,eventually,the United States. Decisions to support eradication of "bad" elements versus those tribes that were cooperative seems logical given the reports that were received and magnitude of the violence that was observed.

Having said that, the chapters regarding the tracking of language patterns, formulating questions that would uncover additional information about tribal history and Jefferson's desire and passion to explore the role of the Native American and determine whether there were connections with the Welsch were fascinating and were great reading.

Overall, while I enjoyed the book, I sensed too much intent to discredit Jefferson and too little effort to suggest the overall importance of Jefferson's desire and approach to collecting and preserving data on the American Indian.

Many works on early United States history tend to give Indian affairs less attention than it deserves. There are two recent books with which I am familiar that help correct this situation. The first is Robert Remini's study of Jacksonian American, "Andrew Jackson and his Indian Wars". The second is Professor Wallace's book on Jefferson's relationship to the Indians, which I am discussing here.

Remini's and Wallace's book can be read together because both tell parts of the same sad story. Expansionist pressures from settlers and the fear of the United States of Indian attacks, particularly when incited by hostile European nations led to a policy of land cessions, wars, and forced removal westward of the Indian tribes. The process culminated with Andrew Jackson's Indian wars and presidency, the subject of Remini's book, but it was effectively put in place by Thomas Jefferson, as shown by Wallace.

Jefferson and his Indian policy, however, seem to me to present a more complex case than Jackson. As Wallace's book shows, Jefferson was indeed a polymath, a scholar and intellectual as well as a, paradoxically, man of power and position. Jefferson took a genuine interest in Indian archaeology, culture and language and made himself or encouraged others to make, scholarly and enthnological contributions that are still important towards understanding the Indians.

Jefferson, even on Professor Wallace's account, had compassion for the Indian tribes and an interest in their well-being, even if this interest was overshadowed, as it was, by his desire to obtain Indian land for the new nation and even though his view of Indian interests was misguided and partial.

Wallace's book traces Jefferson's early relationship with Indians beginning before the revolution when Jefferson was a land speculator in the then Western United States. He explores in detail Jefferson's writing on Indians, particularly his writing on the Indian chief Logan in his "Notes on the State of Virginia." Jefferson's partial reading of the fate of this "Noble Savage", according to Wallace, shows the ambivalent character of Jefferson's approach to the Indians.

Wallace describes in detail Jefferson the politician approaching Indian affairs in the original United States territory and in the Louisiana purchase, which doubled the size of the United States. The announced goals of the policy were peace, land cessions and civilization for the Indians. Too often, these policies became simply the means for tribal destruction and deprivation and for the removal policy, for both the southern and the northern tribes, that culminated in the administration of Andrew Jackson. (again, see the Remini book.)

There are some fascinating quotations in the book that illustrate Wallace's points that are set aside and emphasized in blocked-type and quotes. It is a good way of gaining focus. The book has a wealth of documentation and is not simply a political history. As I indicated Jefferson was a complex individual and this book shows him, focusing on Indian affairs, in all his personal and political variety.

Wallace has a clear feeling for the tragedy of the American Indian. Yet his book is balanced in tone and does not degenerate into ideological or special pleading. His opinions are stated clearly and eloquently in his introduction and conclusion and in his discussions of the events described in the text. The book has the measure of a scholar and encourages the reader to reflect for him or herself on the record.

There are those who are skeptical of the public's recent interest in American History, as shown by the success of McCollough's John Adams as well as other popular historical works, on grounds that it is a new attempt to promote American exceptionalism and to avoid considering the tragedies of our past. I disagree. I think, this interest in history shows a renewed love and interest in our country with no desire to minimize its failings. Wallace's book to me shows both love of our country and a sense of one of its major tragedies.

The detailed review by Robin Friedman (below) gives a fair and ample account of this book's content and quality. I'm afraid Thomas Jefferson does not escape with his reputation intact, but I doubt that AFC Wallace intended to besmirch or belittle him for any political agenda. Jefferson was my hero in high school, but almost nothing I've learned about him since then has polished his image. John Quincy Adams, who knew him well, slowly came to regard him as hypocritical, cunning, self-absorbed, given to magnifying his own exploits... what today might be called "narcissistic". Wahington detested him in his later years and cut off communication. Obviously, Jefferson can't be blamed for the uses later generations have made of him to justify secession, states-rights conservatism, racist forms of populism, etc, but history does provide a lens for interpreting his ideologies and for finding that aside from the noble rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson's legacy is mostly pernicious.
This is, however, a very well-written and readable book, superbly researched, and not at all tendentious. Don't read it alone! (Of course, if you read it at all, you've probably read other books on Jefferson and on the 18th C). Take a look at FORCED FOUNDERS as a counterweight.

I felt that this was an excellent book on Thomas Jefferson's views toward the native people of North America. It illuminated many parts of his feelings toward native people and their place in the "American Republic." I felt that it also raised many questions about his participation in early land speculation with Henry, Washington, and Franklin as well as his role in the eventual displacement of native people. Anyone interested in early colonial policy toward natives will surely love this book.

Part of the Jeffersonian fascination involves the many facets, ambiguities and paradoxes he presents: the libertarian who owned slaves; the budget-slashing, small-government advocate who was a personal spendthrift, perpetually teetering at the brink of financial ruin; the shy and ineffective public speaker who was one of the most ruthless and scheming of backroom political operatives; the reclusive scholar and intellectual who spent two hours a day on horseback, and apparently indulged surreptitious passions in the slave quarters. Professor Wallace gives us a little known side of Jefferson: the student of Native American culture, history and language, who took quite deliberate measures to destroy them. Jefferson, who apparently was sincerely fascinated with the Indians, and sympathetic to their plight as they vanished under the burdens of disease, debt, whiskey and the murderous encroachments of frontiersmen, did little to protect them and their way of life, which was incompatible with Jefferson's expansionist, egalitarian vision of a nation of white protestant yeoman farmers. At best, Jefferson hoped that the Indians could be assimilated into white society, as were the Cherokee before Jefferson's successors allowed them to be dispossessed. A fascinating book with some great sidelights (for example, I had no idea that Siouxian tribes at one time lived in Virginia).

This book is an outline for how to recreate the late June Jordan's revolutionary poetry class at UC Berkeley. From how to organize, to how to pick a curriculum and run a workshop, to how to kick off a reading and publish a class chapbook, this volume recreates the process that will allow you to teach poetry to a broad cross-section of the population. And not just at a university, either: the book describes how this same process, with minor amendments, was used in public schools and in an area church. I can imagine this same blueprint being used to teach poetry in a community center, a long-term care home, or a prison with similar good effect.

And even if you're not inclined to teach, there is a great deal of information in this book that will help you learn how to write. Jordan inserts her guidelines for revision, self-critique, self-publicity, and other skills a working poet will need. Whether you want to work with others or alone, this book will open your eyes to the ways poets improve their art.

There is even a healthy selection of poetry that poets and teachers of poetry should take a look at. Categorized according to racial, social, sexual, and other lines, it will allow you to build a library that represents a cross-section of verse as it is written in America today. The list is a little out of date, having been written in 1995, but if you have access to a good library, or even time to look around Amazon.com, you should be able to bring the selection up to date for your own writing.

The book isn't without problems. In the reading selection, the "White Male" section seems to stop with the death of Robert Frost, as though no white men have written poetry, or none worth mentioning, for the last 45 years. Some of the poetry from the class is very confessional, sometimes at the expense of quality, so there are poems which seem less like poetry amd more like airing dirty laundry in public. And the social outlook of the book is very urban-centered, as though if you don't live in a world surrounded by urban sprawl and drenched in media, you can't write or perform poetry.

But on balance, even a rural white male poet with nothing to confess will have a great deal to gain from this book. From how to edit yourself to how to organize with other poets to how to publish and publicize, there is a great deal you'll be able to take away and apply to your own poetry and your own community. A must-have for all poets who aspire to work in a serious and committed manner, and for poetry teachers who want to do more than just copy-edit their students' work.

This book, based on the experience of students and poets involved with June Jordan's popular UCal/Berkeley poetry courses, is a handbook for people who want to put poetry in the mouths and pens of "The People," everybody -- whether in the university or in a community setting such as a coffeehouse or church. The "white male" poetry of the "canon" is here put in its rightful place as but one of the several American poetry traditions, which also include African American, Caribbean, Native American, Asian American, Chicano/a, gay and lesbian, women's, and Irish American poetry, for which beginning bibliographies are supplied, as is a sample syllabus and an anthology of student poetry.

I stumbled on this book when I was looking for new resources for good poems to read for Black History Month. Flipping through it, I found it instantly engaging, so I had no problem buying it on the spot.

It went on the stack of 'next time you're looking for something interesting to read' and had to wait for me to finish a few books of poetry, as well as Ted Kooser's Poetry Home Repair Manual. I felt some sort of irrational loyalty to the new Poet Laureate. But Kooser is good; very good. He made me think through everything that I write -- carefully, critically -- and my spirit was quickly wilting. I needed an antidote; or, more precisely, a complement, a little yin to counterbalance the substantial yang of Kooser's superb book. June Jordan was the very thing.

Reading it is a joy. Thinking through how to teach people to write poetry that speaks to the truth of their world, their experience, and how to bring it to the public -- all the grub with the glory, so to speak -- with June Jordan and her students was pure pleasure. And I couldn't argue with the results -- which are generously sprinkled throughout the book, with an extra dollop at the end. Poetry, the craft and how to sell it.

I have to mention that one thing that initially attracted me to Poetry for the People was the memory that Jordan had recently died (in 2002, I believe). I'm in the habit of reading a book by an author when they die as a sort of memorial, an extended meditation on their contribution and general mutability, if you will. We lost a great one when we lost June Jordan; but she was responsible enough to leave a substantial legacy, so the net loss is negligible. It's ours because she wanted it to be.

Even if you don't teach poetry writing, you will love this book if you're a writer of politically conscious poetry or if you care about how good poetry gets written. With the popularity of Slam poetry these days, this is a very useful primer. It includes poems from different cultural backgrounds about a range of racial, social, and gender issues. It also provides lists of suggested readings that go beyond the narrow range of poetry books found in mainstream bookstores.

Lauren Muller, editor, gently persuades a talented crew from June Jordan's Poetry for the People classes at UC Berkely, to tell the rest of us how they do it--run poetry workshops and readings that literally transform their participants and audiences. The book provides college and communityteachers with an accessible plan for poetry workshops, including syllabii, bibliographies, thoughtful meditations on the teaching and writingof poetry, and a rich sampling of poems. It's a tribute not only to the power of the word but also to the solid principle that teaching, like popular theater, is one of the democratic art forms that can revolutionize the way we think and how we live in community.

Each chapter is an essay on some aspect of life in the Sand Hills, often connected to the author's trials with his university or other human institutions, often dam builders, stream diverters, highway folks, boaters, hunters. As usual, some chapters are much more interesting than the others. I liked the parts about curlews and malaria the best. He has a strong and distinctive voice that sounds like a lot of zoologists i have met. Botanists just don't have the same attitude, somehow.

John Janovy captures the excitement of biological field research in his "own back yard". This classic, "Keith County Journal", details the work he and his students did on parasitology in his home state of Nebraska; a state that does not immediately conjure up images of great scientific discovery. This is a great pity because many fundamental discoveries can be made without traveling to the Amazon or Antarctica. In fact a researcher can spend some very fruitful time in such places as mud holes and stock tanks, as well as others, such as agricultural fields. Barbara McClintock, for example, won a Nobel Prize by studying corn in her own research plots and Jean Henri Fabre wrote a whole series of very well-known books on the insect life found mostly on his home "harmas" of about one hectare.

While he and his students scrounge through ponds to look for snail and bird parasites, Janovy was also busy making drawings and paintings of birds. Not wonderful paintings, but certainly reasonable ones. In this he joins with a large number of natural scientists/naturalists/artists who have utilized art as a vehicle for observation. Indeed, Janovy makes a very good case for such observation as a basis for field biology.

This is not just a book for biology wonks, but will also give the general reader a taste of what field biology is all about. "Keith County Journal" is in fact a highly readable book and I recommend it and any other work by John Janovy without reservation.

There are books by scientists and nature writers that inspire an attitude of awe and wonder, and they do it with a graceful style of coolly elegant prose. This is not one of those books. Janovy, a University of Nebraska biologist specializing in parasitology, is often awestruck by nature, but his style is wonky and comically ironic, using the kind of classroom lecture technique meant to engage undergraduates by seeming to be anything but reverential about subjects he loves, enjoys, and deeply cares about.

Unscientifically, he personalizes and humanizes the species he discusses (termites, snails, fish, birds) and even the places where he and his students do their field work - the Platte River, the waters of man-made Lake McConaughy, the streams and marshes that feed into it, and the Nebraska Sandhills. And there are references as well to beer drinking, the Doors, and Waylon Jennings. He refers to himself sometimes in the third person and easily reveals his own embarrassments and frustrations as his attempts to unravel nature's mysteries are sometimes less than successful. Waxing philosophical at nearly every turn, he eventually reaches a state of mind he calls the "Ogallala blues."

Meanwhile, like a great teacher who inspires with his enthusiasms, he opens a world unknown to anyone unaware of the subtle and complex relationships between species. And he's able to do this by focusing on just a few life forms, including one-celled animals, in a small area of western Nebraska. Janovy invites you to take the nearest exit ramp within range of open fields and streams - even a patch of weeds - and just feast your senses on the flora and fauna. His book is full of fascinating material for the nonbiologist and a pleasure to read.

This story is very specific in its content, which is great for a biologist like myself, but because it is so specific it may appeal only to a limited audience. I especially enjoyed the field trips described and felt I was there, leaky waders and all, plus battles with barbed wire and seeking permission from land owwners to trespass their property.

The use of common names in addition to scientific names may have contributed to its readability. More illustrations would help too. I recommend this book to anyone interested in biology, particularly those over age 15.

This book is a quiet masterpiece. I am not a biologist, but I did not find the book too specific or too technical. Janovy sees lessons everywhere. He teases them from his subjects, his students, his experiences. When he wades into Whitetail Creek with his twenty biology students, he changes the lives of those that follow him, whether in the water or on the page. He writes of the Rock Wren, "Live in a place where you are not tested, and you are living in a place of inferior quality." True, the book is about parasites, and his treatment of parasites is fascinating. But the parasites are packed in among his observations about human being and place and the workings of the world. His writing style is graceful and enticing. I can't wait to read more.

This book, the second edition for Ellis, Balcomb and Ford, is a beautiful book for anyone interested in whales, their habitat and their behaviour. Focusing on the Orcas of the Pacific Northwest, this book details their lives from what they eat, to their social habits. It includes a wonderful photo chart of all the Northwest Orcas still alive when this book was published. It is a bit heavy reading, with many complex scientific terms. I would not reccommend for children, but if you know anyone with a facination with whales, this book will it into an obsession.

This book, the second edition for Ellis, Balcomb and Ford, is a beautiful book for anyone interested in whales, their habitat and their behaviour. Focusing on the Orcas of the Pacific Northwest, this book details their lives from what they eat, to their social habits. It includes a wonderful photo chart of all the Northwest Orcas still alive when this book was published. It is a bit heavy reading, with many complex scientific terms. I would not reccommend for children, but if you know anyone with a facination with whales, this book will it into an obsession.

May I first say I have never encountered a better identification book then Killer Whales and Transients. Both books are written by THE wild orca authority in the Pacific Northwest. Catalouged pictures and organized information of each individual in every pod along the coast from WA to northern BC along with accurate info on feeding, behavioral and other habits of the pods in Puget Sound and British Columbia. Truly a great book, and as I plan on researching these animals in my adulthood, it has been a great boost to my knowledge on them.

I just returned from a kayaking trip in the Johnston Straight just East of North Vancouver Island known as the inside passage. We had first hand views of the Orcas. This book was used as a reference manual to identify some of the whales. It has wonderful reference pictures of the known pods (families) in the area. It goes into great detail on their eating habits, language, and family history. It also explains their social behavior, and the differences between the pods. It is a wonderful book full of pictures, and details.

This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in orca whales. It has mass amounts of great information, it's easy to read, there are great photographs, and the ID catalogue of orcas is nothing but the best. This book is a must have for any whale-lover, researcher, or someone with just a general interest.

This is a book about dreaming. In native north american culture folks "dreamed" their lives. this is an excellent portrayal of this in (basically) present time case. This book conveys examples to some of the plights current youths face, having split up and mixed backrounds in native american heritage. But also the fading way of dreamers, people who IMAGINED life before letting it happen. Highly recommended if you have read anything about dreaming, also recommended if you know nothing about it but are open to the idea that reality is what you make it. A wonderful story stand-alone as well.

William Penn's novel Killing Time with Strangers, winner of an American Book Award for 2000, is not just exceptional literary craft, it's great fun. Penn seems to be saying some wonderful, optimistic things about the human condition, while poking fun at our preoccupation with the trivial and forcing us to consider basic questions, such as, what are we really doing here? Is life really just a matter of `this, then that?' Such questions are gently woven into a highly imaginative and extremely funny story. The novel shows us the LaRue family, and in particular, son Palimony Blue, whose tale is narrated by a weyekin, or Indian spirit guide, dreamed by his mother Mary. The story works on many different levels. Its structure is highly sophisticated yet unless you are examining it from the perspective of literary criticism (which you can -- this work has already received one prestigious award, and will no doubt be examined in college classrooms, if it isn't already) -- you just appreciate the ease with which it joins the stories of Pal's family, his mixblood Indian father, Indian mother, generations of native American ancestors, the story of Pal himself from infant to man, the women in Pal's life, the loves of his life (including his one true love, Amanda), ending with hope and promise in the birth of his own children. The book shows you, in splendid real-life color, the connections between all things. Before Pal is able to dream his true love, Amanda, he seeks, finds or thinks he finds, Love in a series of humorous and often lustful encounters along the way with many colorful 'strangers'. These characters make for a very entertaining story. And, unlike so many books thrown at us today by popular writers, where the characters are `born, drink coffee and die', and whose messages (if any) don't matter one whit to life or literature, this book offers in a new and imaginative way some reassuring messages: that love really makes a difference; and we can (and need to try) to hope and dream a better world. Along the way, Dreaming is an engine that propels us, and a vehicle to create our path and vision. And laughter is, still, wonderful medicine for what ails us.

Also recommended (same author): This is the World (short stories): The Absence of Angels (novel); Feathering Custer (essays); All My Sins Are Relatives; As We Are Now (Editor, essays); The Telling of the World (Native American folk tales)

William Penn's novel "Killing Time with Strangers", winner of the American Book Award for 2000, is not just exceptional literary craft, it's great fun. Penn seems to be saying some wonderful, optimistic things about the human condition, while poking fun at our preoccupation with the trivial, and forcing us to consider basic questions, such as, what are we really doing here? Is life really just a matter of `this, then that?'

Such questions are gently threaded into a highly imaginative and extremely funny story. The novel shows us the LaRue family, and in particular, son Palimony Blue, whose tale is narrated by a weyekin, or Indian spirit guide, dreamed by his mother Mary. The story works on many different levels. Its structure is highly sophisticated yet unless you are examining it from the perspective of literary criticism (which you can -- this work has won one prestigious award already and will likely be examined in college classrooms, it's that good!) -- you just appreciate the ease with which it joins the stories of Pal's family, his mixblood Indian father, Indian mother, generations of native American ancestors, the story of Pal himself from infant to man, the women in Pal's life, the loves of his life (including his one true love, Amanda) and finally, the hope and promise of the future, the birth of Pal's children. The book shows you, in splendid real-life color, the connections between them all.

Before Pal is able to dream his true love, Amanda, he seeks, finds or thinks he finds, Love in a series of humorous and often lustful encounters along the way with many colorful "strangers". These characters make for a very entertaining story. And, unlike so many books thrown at us today by popular writers, where the characters are `born, drink coffee and die', and whose messages (if any) are momentous in the sense only of, 'of the moment', and don't really matter a whit to life or literature, this book offers in a new and imaginative way some enduring and reassuring messages: that love may really make, not just 'a' difference, but 'the' difference; and we can (and need to try) to hope and dream a better way in this world. Along the way, Dreaming is both an engine that propels us, and a powerful vehicle to create our path and vision. And laughter is, still, wonderful medicine for what ails us.

I was impressed by W.S. Penn's Killing Time with Strangers. I thought the author was witty, intellegent, and understanding. The characters in the book were well developed, as was the plot of the story. I would be forced to disagree with anyone who rated this book less than a 5, for I have not only bought this book for myself, but also for my friends and family as gifts. This book has everything, romance, adventure, and a part of all of us that connot be left out. The author has a unique understanding of humanity, and therefore, his story telling is enhanced. This book can be enjoyed by everyone, no matter what their character. I was so happy that this book won last year's American Book Award, (obviously this proves my point about this being a good book). After reading this book, I know you will rush out to buy all of W.S. Penn's books.I reccomend this book over all other books on this website. Thank you all for your time.

After reading this book, I think that Magical Realism, Native American style, may catch on as a distinct genre. The author, an "urban mixblood Nex Perce" is an English professor and it shows through in echoes from classical literature, but Penn also includes the classics of the Americas (such as the Popul Vuh) which makes this work unique and why I think that Penn may have opened up a whole new genre (if anybody can follow this act).

"Without storytelling, human beings don't exist" says Penn's narrator (a "Wyekin" or spirit guide, who, in his comic incopetence reminds me of Ed's Indian spirit guide in TV's "Northern Exposure").

This is the story of Palimony Blue Larue, son of Mary Blue and La Vent Larue, misnamed in the hospital becuase a nurse couldn't imagine anybody naming thier kid "Palomino" after a horse! So Pal goes through life trying to please and be liked as his father before him did, while his mother and her Weyekin spirit guide try to prevent him from making his father's mistakes and teach him how to dream his way out of the white world. His mother didn't want him in their world. Says Mary Blue, "I want him to envision and make a world of his own in which they are not foolish but all their knowledge and instinct don't matter because they don't have any effect."

This must have been the spirit that prompted the famous Ghost Dance.

Pal's mother, Mary Blue, is the spider woman on the set, goddess of wisdom and time, endlessly beading and feeding strangers and friends the way Penelope did - or one of the Fates. She has "...years of her Dreamer's practice at harmony, at the balance that comes from not judging until it's time and even when it became time, ususally not judging the person but maybe the results, and not harshly, which came full circle from the balance achieved by not judging, but putting the thing itself in perspective, by connecting it to five hundred years of human activity and thought, by seeing that very little about real human beings really changes. Once you realize that, once you learn to dream, which helps to create that realization, you gain humor - sometimes, outright laughter - but always the humor that is the resilience of survival."

How much of this is like the Australian aboriginal dreamtime, I wonder?

Pal gradually catches on, but with his own spin. His yellow butterflies become post-it notes by which he dreams his ideal woman, Amanda, into existence. But Amanda does declare towards the end of the book that "I'm real." Not something Pal dreamed. "Dreaming is an imaginative act. But it's very real," he says. "Like telling stories. The Navajo beleive that by articulating something, putting it into words, you actually make it exist. You bring it into being. Dreaming's like that. It makes things exist by imagining them with power. It makes them exist by imagining a world in which they mean a lot."

Pal's epiphany comes when he burns his post-it notes and says they're "dead lectures...names and dates and questions that have to mean what people have already decided they have to mean. Not a single hidden meaning in one of them. Nothing that lets you glimpse the other side of things or look for what's behind or between the words, like stories."

Besides the classical references, there are echoes of other authors in this work - Erdrich and Silko, Anaya and even Alexie - but Penn still has his own voice. He could have used a better editor who would have weeded out sentences such as, "Odd how they don't want their listeners to take part in how their stories make the world, though, isn't it?" which is simplistic at best and patronizing at worst. And you have to connect the dots and pay attention or else you have to go back and check the author's definition of terms. But it's worth it for the world view.

I'm making this work sound like a literary exercise - which it isn't. It's an entertaining story, but you have to pay attention or miss the point. You have to read it to the end to get to the beginning. So it's not light reading. But again, it's worth it.

pamhan99@aol.com

great book! buy it!! Everything is wakan. find out why!

Lakota Belief and Ritual is a book rich in oral history. It was recorded at the a time when there were First Nations members who had the personal experiences of a lifetime and whose tradition was an oral tradition. Dr. Walker (a physician and anthropologist) collected and preserved this oral history in the face of the destruction of most First Nation's cultures through the intervention of the European cultures.

The narratives are all excellent and there are 90 + documents containing those first-person narratives along with several photographs.

The Bison Books edition has an extensive (and very valuable) series of appendices, including an extensive (modern) bibliography.

The original Walker papers (or the majority, at any rate) are now part of the Colorado Historical Society collection.

A first rate piece of work by the editors, DeMallie & Jahner, working from the primary materials created and preserved by Dr. Walker and his family.

An invaluable work. This book -or at least excerpts- should be part of any text on U.S. History. The inclusion of First Nations culture in our textbooks is rare, indeed.

James Walker went to the Pine Ridge reservation in 1896 (as a Christian) to serve the indians as a Medical Doctor.

18 years later when he left the reservation; he had adopted the Sioux form of Spirituality, and had become a wicasa wakan (holy man). He was trained by George Sword, and other medicine and holy people.

Some of this material is very dry, and dificult reading because a large part of the book (expecially the rituals and myths) were translated into English from the Language of the Sioux. But if you have a sincere wish to understand this form of Spirituality; this book is well worth reading.

I do wish to confirm one statement in this book by wicasa wakan (George Sword). "Any pipe can be used in a sacred manner" I could NOT agree more! I have used a meerschaum pipe, a pipestone (catlinite) pipe, and a briar pipe. The condition of the heart and mind is far more important than the kind of pipe one uses.

I encourage questions and comments about my reviews; Two Bears.

Wah doh Ogedoda (We give thanks Great Spirit)

This book is the litmus test for subsequent interpretations of the Lakota religion. Since the true authors felt that their culture was disappearing, they were extremely forthcoming with their information to Dr. Walker. All Lakota expressions of religion that follow this revelation of the Lakota medicine men are in fact derivative of it. Some have questioned the qualifications of the "informants" within Lakota society, but I have seen no contemporary Lakota belief or ritual that deviates from the broad strokes of this book. If you truly want to learn about traditional Lakota religion, start here, and then move on to Raymond J. DeMallie's edited texts under the title The Sixth Grandfather.

I think that the author of this book that I have just started to read is very good at give the outlook of the Lakota and the way of live that thye live and i think that if you have the change to buy or cheak it out from the library in your area that you should

A great book for showing girls as heroines and teaching about giving to others. A Native American folktale told by Native Americans adds to the richness of the story. Lends itself to several classroom studies including northern lights, heroes, folktales & legends, ladyslipper flowers and Native American culture.

This beautifully illustrated edition of the Ojibway legend lends itself easily to reading outloud to groups of children in the classroom or anywhere else. The colorful pictures help the flow of the story, both of which help hold the youngsters spellbound. Young children identify with the characters in the story and having one of their own age group in a situation of bravery and steadfast love empowers them. Excellent book.

I read this book as part of an assingment for a class (Children Resources for Children and Young Adults). I loved it. I am also currently taken Ojibwe and enjoyed how the authors incorportated Ojibwe words. The illustrations are simple, yes, but add charm to the well told (or rather retelling) of the origin of the lady slipper.
I recommend this to any teacher. Please, incorporate it in your class (high school teachers, too!). On a latter note, after reviewing it for class, I realized that this book was written by my teacher. Margi is the nicest person and an excellent teacher. And her book reflects her spirit.

This book is excellent for all ages. It contains beautiful illustrations to compliment the story of a little girl's courage. A good one for use in a classroom.

This is such a pretty book that tells the tale of the Ojibwe legend of the laddy slipper or moccasin flower. The illustrations are simple and colorful and greatly add to the folk atmosphere of the book. A little girl must go on a heroic journey through a freezing wintry night to find healing herbs when her whole village is stricken with terrible disease. She is encouraged along her route by the spirits of the stormy environment who speak to her in the Ojibwe tongue. This is an exciting and satisfying story and makes an excellent conversation starter to teach little ones about communing with the elements of Nature.

"The Lesser Blessed is a coming of age tale told in photo-booth snapshots and raunchy one-liners. It is poetry and prose and locker-room boasts and puking-your-guts-out shame. It's sex that transcends tragedy. It is loud and rude and high. It's a shaker."
--John Burns for the Georgia Straight (Nov. 28, 1996)

"[Van Camp] does not stumble over nostalgia or romanticism or careless diction. He loves words-his own, his Nation's, rock and roll's-and slips perfect ones into atrociously profane and perfect sentences..."
--Lorna Jackson for The Malahat Review (Summer, 1997)

The Lesser Blessed. Richard Van Camp. Douglas & McIntyre, 1996. Reviewed by Dr. Geary Hobson.

In virtually every generation, in the realm of literary activity, there comes along a
book that, by the very nature of its subject matter and place and the sheer exuberance
of its utterances reverberant of the place and people depicted, introduces not only a
little-known terra firma and people, but sometimes becomes the definer of that era in
which it is produced. Not surprisingly, these books are usually the products of younger
writers. Wordsworth's and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads, Jane Austin's novels, the
work of the Brontes, Stephen Crane's stories, Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises
ushering in the Lost Generation, Kerouac's Beat Generation introduced in On The
Road, Salinger's Holden Caulfield wandering through Catcher in the Rye, the jaded
"me"-obsessed teens in Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero, Native American
sensibilities in Momaday's House Made of Dawn, and a generation later, Alexie's The
Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven-all these books and writers burst forth
in such dynamic ways that not only defined their respective eras, shook the accepted
literary standards of their day, but expanded and extended the English lan-{78}guage,
while at the same time occasioning the debut of sometimes extraordinary new literary
talents.
In my view, Richard Van Camp, a Dogrib Nation writer born in Fort Smith,
Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1971, is accomplishing virtually the same thing in his
first novel, The Lesser Blessed, as Hemingway, Kerouac, et al. did in their times.
Given the smaller spectrum of Native American literature within (or without, as many
Native writers would have it) the larger context of American, British, and Canadian
literatures, Van Camp's novel introduces a new terrain and language that nonetheless
has roots in the fiction of Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, and James Welch, while
simultaneously exploring the same subject matter as the contemporary stories of
Sherman Alexie, Adrian Louis, and Lorne Simon.
In The Lesser Blessed, a Dogrib Indian teenager named Larry Sole narrates his
story and thus invites the reader into the little-examined world of contemporary Dogrib
(a part of the Dene, or Athabaskan-based, tribal people of the Northwest Territories
of Canada). More specifically, Larry embodies a modern Indian teenager's view of his
particular tribal culture and of the Indian world in general, acknowledging them and
appreciating them along with his fondness for Iron Maiden, Bruce Springsteen, Ozzy
Osbourne, occasional pot-smoking, getting "hamburgered" ("Raven" talk--Larry's own
take on his tribe's trickster figure's language for "drunk," Larry tells us), and trying to
get closer to his own particular Juliet (and, incidentally, the girl's actual name in the
novel) whom Larry remembers as "the first girl in grade school to swear at a teacher."
A North of 60 Romeo, Larry is in love with Juliet while she throws her sexual favors
to Johnny Beck, Larry's best friend, who is scornfully casual to her attentions.
Van Camp's method of characterization is strikingly vivid. At seventeen, and tall
and skinny, Larry describes himself as having "spaghetti arms and daddy longlegs,"
and at one point he visualizes himself as a Dogrib hunter of an earlier time as he
watches Juliet, "seen in his sights as a white caribou, pure, but (whom) he let go out of
respect and awe." Larry and his mother, a night school student at Arctic College, live
in Fort Simmer, a north-of-the-60th parallel town near the border of Alberta. Jed, his
mother's on-again, off-again boy friend, is a traditional Slavey Indian trapper whom
Larry identifies as a father-figure, and who promises to take Larry out "on the land" for
a season of trapping. Larry is amenable to this, but he is still comfortable in his
high-school world of hanging out with Johnny, lusting after Juliet from afar, {79} trying
his best to avoid the numerous school-ground fist-fights, and playing his tape deck
"cranked up" with AC/DC, Judas priest, and Iron Maiden.
Slowly, through a number of finely crafted, fragmented flashbacks, the reader
learns of Larry's past, in which his biological father physically and sexually abused him
and later died in a cabin fire that Larry himself may have started. Like Welch's
emotionally frozen nameless narrator of Winter in the Blood, Larry gradually awakens
to love and affection--after he surprisingly (to himself most of all) consummates his
sexual desire for Juliet in a brief relationship--and learns to retrust his mother and to
give himself fully in a father-son relationship with Jed. The Lesser Blessed, incredibly
funny and wise-cracking in many places, is nonetheless filled with the genuine
ingredients of a well-wrought tragi-comedy.
The Lesser Blessed is also the harbinger of a sophisticated Arctic literature, and
of a bold new direction for contemporary Native literature. And while it is perhaps not
the first novel to come out of the Canadian Northwest Territories, it is certainly the first
work of fiction by a Native writer from that vast region. By all accounts, it is a
masterful achievement.

Dr. Geary Hobson

Richard Van Camp¡¦s novel "The Lesser Blessed" is rooted firmly in the tradition of the coming-of-age, Bildungsroman genre that appeals to all who have survived the teen years and lived to tell about it. Or in this case, lived to read about it.

Writing from the sensibility of a Canadian aboriginal artist, a First Nation author speaking from within the experience of life as a member of the Dogrib nation, Van Camp imbues his novel with a definite sense of the indigenous culture situated within the history of Canadian social colonization. His 16-year-old narrator and primary protagonist, Larry, is comfortable with the First Nation culture passed down to him by his family. However, Larry truly finds himself coming alive in the stories told by his mother¡¦s firefighter boyfriend, Jed.

As the novel progresses and we discover the dark ¡§devil¡¦s kiss¡¨ secret that weighs so heavily upon Larry¡¦s heart, it becomes increasingly clear that Jed the firefighter is there to save Larry from burning in the flames of guilt and shame. The quenching waters that he offers the tormented teen are his stories, histories and mythologies. Indeed, the chilling influence of Adrian C. Louis and Leslie Marmon Silko is recognizable in this novel at its darkest moments. This is certainly not a childhood story of nostalgia and happiness, but neither is it a tale overwhelmed by sadness and self-destruction.

The sharing of stories helps Larry survive the challenges thrown at him as a North American teenager: experimenting with drugs; dealing with bullies; controlling sexual urges; getting into fights; and making friends. Scattered across the pages of almost every chapter is the music of the period, as Larry also draws strength from his favorite band, Iron Maiden. Band names and song titles are peppered throughout the novel. Most post-teenaged readers will probably smile as they remember how very important music was to them as teens.

Especially satisfying is Van Camp¡¦s playfulness with language and his creation of a jargon that is both pleasant and jarring, such as the hyper-speech that Larry calls ¡§Raven talk.¡¨ The dialogue is often fast and funny, although the humor tends toward the darker edges of comedy. Most intriguing are the flashes of memory offered up in dreamlike and psychedelic patterns. Watch out for those blue monkeys.

If the novel has any failing, it is the brevity of the work. The story takes place in the space of a few weeks, and though ¡§manhood¡¨ or ¡§adulthood¡¨ remain far from Larry¡¦s grasp, he revels in his life experiences and fancies himself lucky to be alive. For the cynical adult reader, Larry's joy represents his naivety; his faith in love seems misplaced. Poor Larry just doesn¡¦t know what kind of mud the world still has in store for him, for us all. But maybe, just maybe, he¡¦ll survive better than the rest of us because he¡¦s got stories, Jed¡¦s stories and his own, to keep him going.

Timothy R. Fox
Kui Xing: The Journal of Asian/Diasporic and Aboriginal Literature
http://www.kuixing.panopticonasia.com
Join the Kui Xing Discussion Group

"THE LESSER BLESSED is easily one of the most truthful, painful, powerful novels I've ever read."

-Joseph Bruchac

My 3 yo granddaughter loves the moon and loves this book. Although the prose is spare, it captures the essence of each month's full moon. The illustrations are soft, subtle and like Rylant's writing, full of wondrous detail.

This is a fabulous pairing of writer and illustrator. They compliment each other perfectly. I enjoy this one as much as my granddaughter.

This book is a remarkable achievement. Rylant's simple yet moving and profound poems capture the magic and wonder of the night-time, and they have been further brought to life - and to light, amazingly so, in a rich diversity of luminous grays, blues, purples - by the illustrator.

Reading it with my five-year-old niece, who has often been afraid alone at night, was truly delightful: Long Night Moon brings out the richness, softness and intimacy of the nocturnal environment, in a way that a child finds reassuring.

The journey of the seasons is shown in snapshots, panning along a 360° view of the same landscape, bringing us back, at December's Long Night Moon, to the homey scene of the beginning. It gives a feeling of completeness and harmony, one more of the very successful uses of symbolism and imagery by this author/illustrator pair who were very fortunate to find one another.

I've recommended this book to several friends, who told me it also gave them very pleasant reading experiences with the children in their life.

From BOOKPAGE, December 2004:

Once in a blue moon

Inspired by the Native American custom of naming full moons, veteran Newbery Medal-winning author Cynthia Rylant teams up with newcomer Mark Siegel in a lovely new book showcasing the 12 full moons of the year.

As artist Mark Siegel shares in a note, although he was immediately captivated by Rylant's words, he wasn't quite sure of the best medium to use for his artwork. After trying acrylics and oils, he finally chose charcoal, pencil and pastels.

Perhaps more importantly, he took "many long walks by moonlight in the beautiful Rockefeller Farms, near Sleepy Hollow, New York," realizing that he'd never given so much attention to moonlight before. This careful attention paid off in Siegel's stunning illustrations exploring all 360 degrees of one spot in the countryside. The dark yet silvery images seem perfectly in tune with Rylant's words, which evoke the moons, the natural world and seasons, and the meanings they hold for us. The book begins:

"In January
the Stormy Moon shines in mist, in ice, on a wild wolf's back.
Find it and find your way home."

Each month is lovingly evoked, from the Sprouting Grass Moon of April, to June's Strawberry Moon, to the Acorn Moon of October. December's moon is the Long Night Moon, which waits, and waits, and waits for morning. This, Rylant tells us, is the faithful moon.

Long Night Moon is a perfect way to introduce young children to the seasons. Share it with your family after a moonlit walk, and you will create indelible memories.

i read this book late at night in the winter time during the full moon, and was so taken with the artwork, i stayed awake to reread and reread it. the landscape really caught me, i could feel it and smell it, it felt like i was walking through this panorama. i loved looking at each page to see how it connected to the page before, how the road got closer, then further away as i kept walking. when i read the book to my kindergartners, they were awed and silent. they loved finding some of the hidden art in the drawings, looking for the wolf in the sky was their favorite. this is a magical book, which leaves you feeling hushed, peaceful, happy.

Grear book to inspire young writers to take off an re write thie own versions