Böcker av Teresa Pijoan

Granger Pino has a history of manipulating others to do his dirty work. In Granger's Threat, Granger was sent to prison for his dastardly deeds. Now his mother Margaret, who worships Granger, has managed to spring him from prison. Sophia, Granger's sister, was warned by the prison counselor of Granger's ways. Sophia knows her brother well and chooses to stay close to him for safety's sake. Sophia also discovers that her husband is hoarding money, which leaves her children in emotional chaos. Once Granger is out, his murderous ways continue.

The stories in this book, recorded by the author from personal interviews with Native American storytellers, hold the conflicts and compliments of family and/or situations of testing in relationships. Native cultures have lessons to be learned here, just as every culture does. These stories are not unique, yet they may help educate many of us today in finding solutions to similar problems. Symbolic language holds teachings, but without respecting the old ways, many shall never learn. Human beings have lived throughout millenniums, through floods, enduring droughts, appreciating abundance of food, yet every generation has their own trials to overcome, goals to achieve and rewards to receive or lose. These stories are to remind us of how fragile each one of us is as we struggle to survive youth, middle age, and our older years. It is important to listen and remember, for once the truth is gone, we shall certainly be on our own. Some of the Native American people represented by these stories are the Paiute, Iroquois, Pima, Kiowa, Osage, and Cherokee.

In a small town in northern New Mexico a father's untimely death leads to mayhem and murder. Families find their lives threatened once the father's will is read for unlike his wife, he did not believe in primogeniture. Truth reveals that the father did not believe in his son Granger at all and herein begins the conflict. The father's death was to be Granger's salvation but Granger must now find a way to gain wealth in order to maintain a family male heir. The father's doctor and nurse know without a doubt that the father's death was not a natural one, but can they get the daughter Sophia to see the obvious as she suffers in her grief? Soon Granger is shown not to be as clever as he believes himself to be when someone else-someone who wants Granger's money and is equally as dangerous-comes on the scene and Granger soon becomes a victim. Sinister and clever machinations now outweigh truth and honesty. Sophia is not willing to let her home and her loved ones be separated from her without a fight as her relatives threaten to remove her from all she holds dear, including life itself. Can she survive and solve the mystery of her father's death? The body count piles up as the story unfolds. What appears obvious may not be easy to prove as the prodigal son falls. Includes Readers Guide. TERESA PIJOAN was born in Espanola, New Mexico, and grew up in Indian communities where she learned the ways and legends of the Native People. Her father was a public health doctor from Barcelona and her mother was a school teacher from New York. Her grandfather was the famous Spanish author, Jose Pijoan. Teresa Pijoan is a lecturer, storyteller, research writer, and teacher and has shared her storytelling throughout Central Europe, Mexico, and the United States. To storyteller Pijoan, myths are "magic lenses" through which cultures can be viewed, understood, and deeply appreciated. Other books by Teresa Pijoan are "Dead Kachina Man," "American Indian Creation Myths," "Healers on the Mountain," "Pueblo Indian Wisdom," "Native American Creation Stories of Family and Friendship" and "Ways of Indian Magic," all from Sunstone Press.

Anyone interested in mythology and legends will enjoy these stories which have been passed down orally for generations by the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest. They reveal Pueblo customs and traditions as well as the ceremonial aspects of Pueblo religion. A character called Grandfather, the fictional narrator of these stories, embodies the collective wisdom of the Pueblo Indians, the attitudes about universal dilemmas and conflicts in human life that developed through many generations.Some of the stories are realistic; others involve the supernatural. Some evoke the initial contact between the pueblos and the Spanish conquistadors. There are also tales of the joy and bitterness of interactions between parents and children, husbands and wives, and humans and spirits. Rites of passage and "e;vision quests"e; often enter into the characters' attempts to live in harmony with nature, other humans, and spirits. Lessons on how to live, of growing up, marrying, parenting, and growing old sometimes emerge straightforwardly in these stories, but more often, readers are left to draw their own conclusions.These stories, collected by Teresa Pijoan since she was eight years old, actually came from many different storytellers, some of them childhood friends of the author. She had heard several versions of each story before writing it down and she often used elements from one version to fill in the parts missing from other versions. She then showed her drafts of each story to members of several different pueblos and weighed their comments before putting each story in its present form.

Text in English & Spanish. These lively stories from northern New Mexico blend elements from Native American, Latino, and Anglo sources and range from elaborate nursery rhymes to dark accounts of ghosts and spirits.