"Cuentos de Cuanto Hay" is a great collection of over sixty folktales collected by the young J. Manuel Espinosa in the early 1930s in the Spanish-speaking regions of northern New Mexico. Originally published in Spanish as "Spanish Folktales from New Mexico" (American Folklore Society, 1937), the tales are here translated for the first time by the well-known New Mexico storyteller Joe Hayes. The book is the first substantial collection of Spanish-language stories from New Mexico available in English. Arranged in a parallel-text format, the Spanish version and the translation are made readily accessible to the student learning Spanish (although it has no vocabulary list), yet the stories have not been "dumbed-down" for language-learning purposes and can be enjoyed by anyone. Espinosa has written a short historical introduction and Hayes includes some brief linguistic notes.

I did find one potential flaw with the book, though. Espinosa's original Spanish versions published in 1937 have been modernized by Hayes. By updating archaisms and standardizing the grammar and some vocabulary, the translator has sought to make the stories more widely accessible to English speakers learning Spanish. This is fine, but you should be aware of the changes. Personally, since I have an interest in Spanish linguistics and have been studying some of the New Mexico dialect, I found the changes a loss. But the original versions are available elsewhere and only you can decide which one you prefer. Even with the linguistic changes, the book deserves five stars and more.

Cycle Of Seasons In Corrales by freelance writer Ruth W. Armstrong is an inspirational celebration of the turn of the seasons in Corrales and throughout New Mexico. Love of life, memories of the past and keen awareness of the present permeate this spiritual treatise. Enhanced with the photography of Ruth and Ellis Armstrong, Cycle Of Seasons In Corrales an impressive and timeless evocation and well worth the reading by anyone who appreciates what nature offers as the Earth encircles the Sun.

Joe Hayes is an excellent storyteller. I have seen him entertain a group of children. It was amazing. His unique way to incorporate spanish and english in the same stories gives the children a feel that they are really there. They can exsperiance the culture and enjoy the story. Joe is a great storyteller and this tape is a great way to incoporate him into your classroom or at your house without haveing him thier. He allows the child to use thier imagination. It is great. I am 25, but I could not get the age to work. This is from a teacher point of view.

Joe brings a lot of native stoys with jokes and morals. All use interesting creatures from New Mexico.

Dead Water Rites is the fourth book in the Booker Series by Monty Joynes, however readers new to Joynes will understand its powerful message of man's fate if he continues to rape the earth.

A white man known sometimes as Booker and sometimes as Anglo "searches for new identity and spiritual completeness among the Pueblo people." He learns how water is the very lifeblood of the People, and that they regard it as a "living being." A tribal elder sees the water drying up and dying, and trusts Booker with the mission of finding the source of the "sick water."

If the water is truly dying, then the dead water rites will be performed, and life will cease to exist.

As he searches for the sick water, Booker also continues his journey of spiritual growth. He meets a militant female environmentalist, and begins learning of some of the politics involved in water rights. He also learns that perhaps the celibate life isn't right for him after all.

A group of land developers with the philosophy that "any day is a good day to make money" are also looking at the water. They draw up a proposal for a gambling casino, replete with promises of economic security. Buried in the fine print are the clauses handing over all water rights.

A former real estate developer himself, Booker recognizes the true impact of the casino on the People. He explains this to the tribal elders, who say they will "continue to pray and seek a vision." Booker and the young woman are seriously injured in a car accident, from which it takes months to recover. The developers move ahead unhampered with their plans.

Dead Water Rites "is lucid and literary, an articulate and artful plea to cease our self-destructive exploitation of the environment and native people." Those who read it will gain a new respect for the liquid essential to all life on Earth, and a better understanding of those who seek to keep it alive.

This story grips one's intrest from page one. A new twist of true history from start to finish. Never before has this story been told with such passion and insight. Pablo and Juan Jose each strive to save the land for their people, one legaly the other by night. Both methods are redeaming and at the same time futile. Every chapter has history packed into all words. Santa Fe and Las Vegas are forever intertwined. If you are interested in the hidden history of New Mexico, this book is a must read. Get the real picture. It will stick in your mind!

This is a must have Zuni Pottery book! I own this hard cover book and it really says a lot about the current Zuni potters. Buy this for your collection and see the amazing quality photos of the masters in action. Good job! Milford & Elisa

I visited Farmington, NM and Ricketts Field, as a sponsor of a team, in l979, l981 and l982. It is a great tournament and the families with whom the young fellows stayed were great. Infact the whole town was gracious. Any player or parent would be happy to have this book as a keepsake. It is very interesting and it lists every player that ever played in the tournament. I was told about this book and ordered it right away and I'm not dissapointed. I have ordered another and probably by the time I finish telling everyone back here in the Flint, Michigan area, they will want one too!

Rubén Cobos' short but monumental "Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish" (1983) was a classic the day it was printed. If you have any interest in the Spanish-speaking cultures of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, this book is a great way to learn something about the dialect without plunging into a difficult linguistic study.

Like Samuel Johnson's dictionary, Cobos's is a book you can sit down and read enjoyably. The entries are not just translations of Spanish words into English. Cobos traces their origin and (in most cases) illustrates their meaning by including them in sample sentences. For instance, "murre" (in standard Spanish, "muy"): "Esta muchita es murre gente" ('This child is very friendly'). Additionally, many words are also explained by the use of proverbs and folk-poems.

Cobos also explains the cultural signficance of about a third of the words in the dictionary. For example, "pitarrilla": "Pitarrilla, f. [Obviously, the dictionary has great value not only (nor even primarily) for the linguist, but for the anthropologist and historian, as well. It is completely free of technical linguistic terminology and accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of standard Spanish. (I might emphasize that the book is a guide to local usage only and does not include standard Spanish words.) Although the pronunciation of the New Mexico/southern Colorado dialect is relatively standard, Cobos has taken care to indicate divergences where they exist (e.g., "raices" is pronounced "rái-ces", not "ra-íces"). He includes a short historical and linguistic introduction, tracing the four-hundred year evolution of the dialect. Finally, for a kick, at the start of each alphabetical section you'll find a short proverb -- "P. 'Pa pendejo no se necesita mestro' (To be a fool one needs no school)."

A valuable book that sells for a good price. Five stars.

The New Mexico Territory of the late 1860's came alive in this well-written book. The story of Ben Logan was engrossing throughout the book. He goes from being a survivor of the Civil War to a ranch owner in the New Mexico Territory with stops as a wagon driver and gold prospector in between. Real characters and events were interwoven with fictional ones in a believable way. The descriptions of the scenery make the reader want to visit the Pecos Wilderness. I had a hard time putting the book down once I started reading it. The Epilogue describes what happened to the real characters and events. I kept looking for descriptions of what happened to Ben and Myra who are fictional characters! I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical or western fiction.