A collection of stories, poems, and meditations that illuminate the spiritual world of the Navajo.

- Explores the Navajo's fundamental belief in the importance of harmony and balance in the world.

- Shares Navajo healing ways that have been handed down for generations.

- Includes meditations following each story or poem.

Navajo myths are among the most poetic in the world, full of dazzling word imagery. For the Navajo, who call themselves the Dine (literally, "the People"), the story of emergence--their creation myth--lies at the heart of their beliefs. In it, all the world is...

A mythological version of the history of North America. Based on hundreds of interviews with Native Americans and using a forceful, poetic language suggestive of another time, this exciting novelistic approach to history brings Native American mythology to life at the same time. As N. Scott Momaday, the Pulitzer prize winning Kiowa poet has said, 'Tunkashila is a book to be read slowly and with deep respect... it is like the wind one hears on the plains, steady, running, full of music.' Tunkashila captures the curiosity of youth and reveals the urgent moral tales of a lost civilization.

Twelve-year-old Tall Ts life has just turned upside down. His father suddenly leaves the family after drinking a bowl of bewitched soup given him by the obeah woman who lives next door. With his father no longer with them, Tall T must be head of the house and help his mother take care of his five brothers and sisters. But earning money isnt easy in a small Jamaican town. How can Tall T go to school and earn money at the same time? His mother tells him he must be like Jacob in the Bible -- Jacob who dreamed of miracles -- and Tall will need a miracle if he is to help his family survive. ...

Condemned to a penal colony in Australia for stealing a woman's bonnet, young Mary Bryant braves every danger in Britain's newest colony, Australia -- disease, famine, rape, and the cruelty of the penal system. As the first convict married in Australia, Mary and her husband Will learn from aboriginal friends how to survive. In time they also learn how to escape. Traveling three months and three thousand miles, Mary's courageous feat is yet unequaled by a woman with two young children traversing rough seas for so many miles in an open boat without training or navigational equipment. Mary's...

Wondrous stories of Changing Woman, First Man and First Woman, Coyote, Great Snake, Gila Monster and others who infuse the rich and complex canvas of the Navajo world view. This book illuminates the traditional oral narratives of the tribe and shows how they work ceremonially as healing ways. Collectively, they also convey the origin story of The People and in addition they provide a moral code for harmonious existence with the natural world. The enlightened state of Navajo consciousness, which they call "walking in beauty" is presented in such a way that all of us can learn to use it and...

Six stories of survival -- men and women set upon by stormy seas, starvation, thirst, beasts, ghosts and their own inner demons. Based on real historical accounts the narratives are filled with the eerie poetry of island life, the exultant triumph of survival against all odds. From Florida's Bigfoot called the Skunk Ape to "the man who would not go bottom" -- a superhero who could not drown but was vulnerable on land, these stories of castaways will appeal to readers of all ages.

Andy and his best friend George, a Blue-fronted Amazonian parrot, live on an island off the Gulf coast of Florida. When Andy's father gets hurt on a Fish and Game mission to catch a poacher, Andy and his almost-human, chip-on-the-shoulder, opinionated parrot go deep into the backwaters to uncover a vine-covered, lethal secret....

A literary and historical legacy of 67 dogs breeds covering the legend and lore of our best friend. From Afghan to Yorkie, the stories in this book are surprising, funny, touching, and philosophical and they go back to the dog who plugged the hole in Noahs Ark, the dog who hid under the skirt of Mary Queen of Scots at her beheading, and to the mythological dog that walked the decks of the Titanic and saved his master from drowning.

The authors have a special rapport with felines and have created a collection of stories about the arcane side of cats. The writings, cleverly shaped around the verses of 18th century English poet Christopher Smart, deal with cats psychic abilities, telepathic powers, astral comings and goings, history and behavior, and relationships with the inferior life forms who share their earthly environment.

In 1808, mountain man John Colter ran and climbed 150 miles while being pursued by members of the Blackfeet nation. His run for life became a part of heroic American history and culture. In 1823, hunter Hugh Glass, left for dead after being torn apart by a grizzly bear dragged himself out of his grave and crawled more than 80 miles to wreak revenge on the trusted friend who abandoned him. This authentic and unique historical novel follows the survival trail and blood spoor of both men. History has recorded their triumphs -- Colter discovering what is now Yellowstone National Park. Hugh...