As a resident of the southwest, I appreciated that the author clearly knows this region's rich cultural history well and recounts it lovingly in a very accessible way. It's beautifully written and the photographs are striking. I highly recommend it.

Ms. Keegan does an excellent job of showing the rest of American how one contemporary Pueblo family lives. The photos show how both the everyday, modern lifestyle and the tradition "old ways" fit comfortably together. The Roybal girls' story is told with respect to their family and their culture. As a librarian and as a member of one of the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, I appreciate being able to find such fine examples of Indians and their lives in modern America. The photos are beautiful and bring to life the world of Sonja and Desiree, as well the Pueblo of San Ildefonso. It is a book I would definitely recommend for anyone interested in learning more about American Indians and our place in contemporary America.

As a member of the Sun Clan of the Jemez people, Joe Sando was in a unique position to research and write this history. As a scholar trained at Eastern New Mexico State and at Vanderbilt, he developed his skills as an historian. As a person he retained his empathy and humanity while confronting the unjust policies that have been visited on the Pueblo peoples by the Spanish, Mexican and United States governments. If you are interested in a well-balanced, incisive history of the New Mexico Pueblo people (the Hopi are not covered here), this book is worth the money to buy, the effort to read and the time to understand.

If you have an interest in Storyteller pottery this is probably the most definitive book you will find. It is well illustrated with many photographs of storyteller pottery. Most of the "big name" potters are included. The only problem is, now that you've found the pottery that you like, HOW DO YOU FIND THE POTTER? Problem solved - check out THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN ARTIST DIRECTORY. Find the potter you like in Babcock's book, then look up the name in the index of the Directory and there you have it - name, address, home phone number, maybe even e-mail or website!

"Pueblos De Puerto Rico En Poesia/Puerto Rican Towns in Poetry," is a beautiful, and meaningful tribute to all of Puerto Rico's 78 towns in poetry and images. Poet Joaquin Hernandez Jimenez , honors every Puerto Rican town and city from Adjuntas to Yauco with poems and odes celebrating their uniqueness, nicknames, landmarks, and other characteristics that set them apart from one another. Even the district of Rio Piedras (which is part of San Juan) and the uninhabited island of Mona are also celebrated in separate poems. Hernandez Jimenez's poetry, which can be moving and amusing, is a delight to read.

If you are Puerto Rican, or an admirer of the island's culture and people, then I highly recommend this book. By reading this compilation of poetry, you will get a better portrait of life, traditions, and other aspects that Puerto Ricans treasured about their island and towns. In addition to the tribute to all of the island's towns, Rio Piedras, and Mona Island, the book contains four additional poems that celebrate Puerto Rico's beauty and people. "Viviras" and "Habla Roberto Clemente" are two tributes to the island's greatest baseball player, Roberto Clemente. The Carolina, Puerto Rico native rose to prominence with the Pittsburgh Pirates and became a major league star during the 1960's. After organizing a relief effort to help victims of a terrible earthquake in Nicaragua, Clemente showed that as a professional baseball player he still had a heart when it came to those who needed help. However, he died when the plane with relief supplies crashed into the waters of the Caribbean Sea shortly after taking off from San Juan.

The two other Poems, "Canto a Arecibo," and "Ay de Mi Borinquen" celebrate the beauty of the town of Arecibo and the island in lyrical poetry. These, and the book's other poems make this a must read for anyone who loves Spanish-language prose. It makes an excellent addition to anyone's library.

If you plan to travel in the Santa Fe/Taos/ Albuquerque area and want to see the Pueblos, this is a must. It is concise but complete.

Each Pueblo is described and history given. You'll even know how to pronounce the names properly. such as Cochiti or Acoma.

You'll know where to buy pottery, jewelry or art work.

See the beautiful Southwest.

Blaine Yorgason captures the spirt of the acient american indians, in this exciting story of a girl who dares to be different, by standing up for what she believes. An exciting chase carries the readers into a world that only Yorgason is able to so realistically create.

Sacred Land Sacred View was written to help honor, record and preserve navajo beliefs and heritage about the Four Corners areas, more than to present a scholarly work on changes in Navajo belief and thought. In the beginning, the author quotes Joseph Campbell's four criteria for a belief system to be a viable force in a person's life. They are (1)mystical function, enabling person to live with awe and gratitude toward the supernatural forces of the universe, (2) attunement with the knowledge and science of the times, giving adequate explanation of how things occur that does not conflict with the understanding of the physical world, (3) validation of the teachings and practices of the morally acceptable in cultural context, and (4) It is a guide to spiritual harmony and strength in a useful life (paraphrased, page 5). Sacred Land Sacred View attempts to reconstruct legends, prehistory, tales of the Navajo that contribute to the criteria above for peoples of the Four Corners. Black and White Photos of scenes and formations help clarify the legends and Navajo histories associated with specific sacred sites. A tone of reverence sets the scene. There are also important views of the Navajo's perspectives on earlier cultures such as the Anasazi. The recurring theme, however is the resolution of cultural dissonance by the Navajo, and, perhaps by implication, all western culture. "Returning to the metaphor given earlier, the new generations of the Dine can 'sleep' through the teachings of their elders or they can be like the student, who said, regarding the holy beings, 'If I were awake, they would say I am their child.' The choice is an individual expression that every Navajo person will make. Whatever each decides, may it take him or her on a path of beauty over a landscape that has meaning and the power to teach and protect (pp.130-131.)" Sacred Land Sacred View is a quietly moving book, designed to appeal and to inform. Brigham Young University/Chas. Redd Center for Western Studies/

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

Gorgeous illustrations, beautiful story. This book is well worth the money. Only a warning - references to "ghostly spirits" and "spirit world".

J. Alison James has taken time travel out of the fantasy world and has put it into reality. In SING FOR A GENTLE RAIN, the author, J. A. James, is showing the reader how someone can change the past and how it will effect them and others for the rest of their lives. Though the use of vivid details, she takes the reader through ups and downs and twist and turns until the end where fantasy and reality are in one place. When one of the main characters, Spring Rain, acually sees two things that were impossible to see, J. A. James is making her point. When two very different things come together, like the rain and the strange man, it can change people's lives in a way that was unforeseen before.

This book is about how James, a 17-year-old high-school student living in the 1990's Southwest, tries to learn more about the Anasazi tribe, which dissappeared centuries ago. While trying to learn more, James is sucked back in time to the 13th century Southwest. Spring Rain, an Anasazi girl living there, prays for rain every morning to end the long drought. She discovers James and they create a great friendship, and fall in love. J. A. James wants the reader to know that Spring Rain believes James has brought the rain because it started to rain when James arrived. Some of the tribespeople think he's a god, but others are suspicious because James can't even set a trap or shoot an arrow. The author brings the past and present together in reality by having the two conceive a child together.

J. A. James is successful in shifting between the current and acient time periods. She gets right to the point and doesn't wander off like some authors. The knows exactly what's going on in the book because she puts a lot of attention to detail. J. A. James has a way of mixing fantasy with reality so that the story makes sense. A boy going back in time 700 years to help the Anasazi survive is believable in SING FOR A GENTLE RAIN.