My son (now 8) and I have read and re-read Fabulous Firework Family numerous times; it's still a favorite for both of us! The book is about a family in a little mountain town of Mexico whose passion, livelihood, and specialty it is to make fireworks. It's a charming look at a culture very different from ours- each family member (even the parrot and the burro!) has his or her part in building this huge castillo. The castillo is a structure made of bamboo and moving, pinata-like fireworks that is set off at a fiesta honoring the town's patron saint. The illustrations are vivid, and many of them are labeled in Spanish - good for vocabulary building. Fabulous Firework Family is full of delights for children - animals, humor, bright colors, excitement, the fiesta, a pickpocket! The only aspect of the book I'm not crazy about is that it's a bit boy/man-centric.

The Farolitos of Christmas tells a warm story of a young girl's respect and love for her grandfather, who is too ill to keep his commitment to light fires at Christmas time. The story creates how the young girl thought of "farolitos" or "little lights" to be used to keep the promise in an acceptable way and also light the path for the carolers at Christmas time. A wonderful story that reflects the rich family traditions of the Mexican American culture. This book was one of the winners of the 1995 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award, given to recognize books that authentically reflect the lives and experiences of Mexican Americans in the United States.

'A Favored Place' is a highly complex analysis of wetland history, tracing its development through pre-Columbian times to the present. This is no easy task. Siemens' book guides us through detailed archaelogical aspects, how Spanish conquerors 'read' the land they found themselves in on the Mexican Gulf coast, what a nineteenth century German colonist saw, and how twentieth century planners thought and proposed to do with 'unfavourable' wetlands. Siemens presents us with a rich and elaborate text, which will be obliged reading for specialists (especially historians, and geographers), but also a delight for a more general public interested in the way perceptions diverge over what is desirable and/or feasible when we come up against such troublesome concepts as traditional and modern. Even though the book abounds in complex technical and methodological questions, amply backed up by maps, illustrations, photographs, and diagrams, Siemens has an enviable command of language, thus permitting the lay reader easy and enjoyable access to the mysteries of what has so often been considered 'unfavourable', but after this re-reading turns out to be 'favourable': that is, flooded bottom-lands. At the end of the day, no preconceived view of the subject escapes Siemens' scalpel.

Having been born and raised in the Midwest, I've always had a fascination with Mexico's Day of the Dead. The idea that you could joyously celebrate the lives of family and friends who have passed on struck me as being unique and beautiful.

The Little-Bitty Book for the Day of the Dead starts with an imaginative and whimsical poem, in both English and Spanish, illustrated with the most charming group of skeletons that you are likely to encounter in a children's book.

Rounding out the book is information about The Day of the Dead, including suggestions on how to celebrate this popular Mexican holiday, with recipes for Pan de Meurto and sugar skulls.

This book is a must have for any multi-cultural children's library.

Lack of colored pictures. Very informative. Super guide for scuba divers and naturalists as well as shell collectors.

I had the opportunity to participate in a research project in Nicaragua. A local Nicaraguan university library allowed me to check out and use any field guide I wanted. Within days, all other field guides were permanently stowed in the bottom of my bag until I could return them to the university.

Having never been to the tropics before, I was still able to identify every bat I caught using mist nets with only the aid of this book (my local guides were unfamiliar with the bats).
This book will be your best piece of equipment if you plan to study mammals in Central America.

One of the first things I did when I returned home was order my own copy of this wonderful book.

This field guide is a definitive yet handy guide that will surely be a classic of its type. It covers all the living species of native mammals from Mexico to Panama (including aquatic species such as whales and otters). For each species there is a careful description of its physical appearance along with notes on habitats, ranges (with maps) and behaviour, as well as other useful comments such as the best place to see a particular species, what the ground tracks look like and the status of threatened species. It is an absolute mine of fascinating information, much of it newly gathered or previously available only in obscure academic sources. There are excellent introductory sections on the main mammal groups, and good indexes and bibliographies -- in short , everything one needs to find and enjoy looking at mammals. But the most unique and useful feature (as well as the greatest delight -- and why this is a true classic), are the illustrations - hundreds of beautifully drawn colour plates painted from life (often in the most demanding of circumstances), that will allow you to settle important questions like "Is that a Woolly False Vampire Bat or a Great False Vampire Bat that just bit you" without flaming your travelling companions. (The book is especially strong on Bats.) Flying squirrels, monkeys, oppossums, sloths, deer mice, armadillos dolphins and skunks, they are all here. I would highly recommend this book both for amateurs and professionals (whether they are going to central america or not!). Every academic library should have a copy of it.

The care taken over detail throughout make the book both scientifically valuable and highly readable. It is a true labour of love - and just look at this quote from the author's preface! "Some species I painted while sitting in a truck, using the steering wheel as an easel, and some in a tent with a hadlamp at night, but most were done outside during the day, sitting on the ground or on a log. The white background of the plates suffered from a continuous onslaught of dust, sweat, and grime, and other indefinable debris. Carrying the plates throughout Central America involved some harrowing experiences, one of which was a short flight to Tortuguero in Costa Rica. The pilot had at length persuaded me to put my portfolio in the front baggage hold in the nose of the plane, and after we took off he realized that the door to this hold had come open. While the other four passengers agonized over the possibility of the plane going down if the luggage became tangled in the propellors, I was trying to follow our coordinates so I could search for my plates if they fell to the swampy ground below. Fortunately, we landed at a small airfield, corrected the problem, and lost nothing but peace of mind."

This delightful book gives a wonderful glimpse into the Mexican culture of fireworks, as seen by a little girl whose family are deeply involved in that culture. As a fireworks professional, I appreciated this warm and sympathetic view of fireworks. When people ask why I am involved in fireworks, I get out this book and show them the picture on the cover. Fireworks is the only way I know to put that expression of joy and awe onto the faces of children. A truly wonderful book, which captures that wonder.

I am personnally a decendant of Juan Nepomuceno and would appreciate thoughts about this book. send comments to SRC_ME @ Yahoo.com. i have just learned of this book and a few others listed on this site and plan to review them all. Check back for future reviews by myself.

(Planeta.com Journal) - This massive 700-page tome is the culmination of more than a quarter century of research in the magnificent Sonoran Desert by an eminent desert botanist. The study of more than 500 species of plants includes innovative identification keys to the families, genera and species. Common names are given in English, Spanish and the native O'odham languages. Abundant illustrations make this book a work of art.