Efrain of the Sonoran Desert:
A Lizard's Life Among the Seri Indians

by Amalia Astorga, as told to Gary Paul Nabhan, illustrated by Janet K. Miller

Cinco Puntas, $15.95, Ages 10-14 years

The Seri Indians, who live along the Sea of Cortes (or Gulf of California), between Baja California and mainland Mexico, can name "more than 48 kinds of lizards, turtles and snakes" but this book isn't simply a study of the reptiles. Rather it's a rendering, and the pictures function importantly here, of the complex interrelatedness between the Seri people and the animals. Amalia Astorga, a Seri elder, tells Gary Paul Nabhan a story of one lizard, Efrain, and the personal intensity with which she sees him as an individual provides the best example of the Seri's willingness to see these animals as contributing neighbors.

<Back