Efraín of the Sonoran Desert: A Lizard's Life Among the Seri Indians - Hardcover

Astorga, Amalia; Nabhan, Gary Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0938317555 ISBN 13: 9780938317555

Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press, 2001

Synopsis

"The very first thing that you see when you reach the beach and leave your boat behind in the shallows of the Sea of Cortez is a lizard running away from the water. It curls its tail high so the waves won't get it wet." That's what Gary Nabhan remembers about his first visit to the Seri village in Kino Bay. There he met storyteller Amalia Astorga. She tells him the bittersweet history of Efrain, a sun-blotched lizard. In so doing, she helps him to understand how the Seris have protected a species that everywhere else is endangered. Together Amalia and Gary give young readers an insight into the life and culture of the Seris, an endangered people themselves, but a people who know how to love their land and its inhabitants.

Amalia Astorga is a Seri Elder. She lives with her tribe in Desemboque, Sonora in Mexico. She is preserving the herbal knowledge of the Seri hunting-gathering community, as well as songs and stories about native animals.

Since 1975, Gary Paul Nabhan has roamed the ancient cactus forests, mesquite grasslands and hidden oases of the Sonoran Desert. His original scholarship integrates conservation biology, agroecology, ethnonutrititon and applied anthropology in unique and unforeseen ways. A co-founder of Native Seeds/SEARCH, he is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Pew Scholarship on Conservation and the Environment, the Premio Gaia, and the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Marketing Plans:

o Author tour in the Southwest to include Tucson, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and El Paso.

o Postcards

Janet K. Miller, a self-taught artist, makes her home in Tucson, Arizona. She lived and worked in West Africa during most of the 1980s, and started painting in 1993. She does reverse glass painting, painting inside out and backwards on the wrong side of clear glass. The original paintings for Efraín are all done using this technique.

About this title

About the Author:

Amalia Astorga is a Seri Elder. She lives with her tribe in Desemboque, Sonora in Mexico. She is preserving the herbal knowledge of the Seri hunting-gathering community, as well as songs and stories about native animals.

Since 1975, Gary Paul Nabhan has roamed the ancient cactus forests, mesquite grasslands and hidden oases of the Sonoran Desert. His original scholarship integrates conservation biology, agroecology, ethnonutrititon and applied anthropology in unique and unforeseen ways. A co-founder of Native Seeds/SEARCH, he is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Pew Scholarship on Conservation and the Environment, the Premio Gaia, and the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 3-5-The zebra-tailed lizard is becoming extinct except in those areas of Baja California populated by a small tribe of Seri Indians. Nabhan, a naturalist and environmentalist, returned to Seri lands to ask the people how they kept these animals alive. The story in this book is the answer, provided by a Seri elder. A special lizard named Efra'n became a friend of the Astorga family. He showed up regularly to be fed and, it seemed, to socialize. When he was killed by wild dogs, the entire family mourned his passing. The book closes with information on the Seri tribe, their methods of cultural transmission and survival in a harsh environment, and their worldview. Less a picture book than a brief ethnographic study with a story imbedded in it, this is an excellent tool for beginning discussions on a number of topics, from cultural values to environmentalism. Miller's illustrations are extraordinary. Created using a technique called reverse glass painting, the pictures are precise and clear, with blocks of vivid color and finely delineated forms. The primitive look, reminiscent of Carmen Lomas Garza's work, enhances the primary-source feeling of the text. This is not a book students will pick up on their own, but given its value both as story and as information, it merits sharing.

Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0938317555
• ISBN 13: 9780938317555
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Miller Janet K.