d'oh again!
A comment on my recent review of The Twelve Days of Christmas sent me here.
Ouch!
It's always difficult to review a book about a culture you're not intimately familiar with, which is why I spent a fair bit of time researching the details of this book. Obviously, not enough time. :-( Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of the book here to verify Debbie's comments, which she made without actually seeing the completed book.
Ouch!
It's always difficult to review a book about a culture you're not intimately familiar with, which is why I spent a fair bit of time researching the details of this book. Obviously, not enough time. :-( Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of the book here to verify Debbie's comments, which she made without actually seeing the completed book.
posted by web at 12:37 PM
3Bligs:
I try to be tactful, but direct and honest, too. I had, for example, listed the names of the author, illustrator, and reviewers, but thought that was mean and personalizing my critique, so I did not include the names.
The people involved are not the point. The point is how many of them missed the problem that I saw.
It would be so helpful to me to know what some of the research you did was about. Did you look up 'kachina'? What did you find, and where?
Debbie
I'm sorry if it sounded like I was criticizing your post, that was not my intention at all! I did not find it unfair or irresponsible. I just wanted to allow for the distant possibility that the book had been edited at some later point in the process, since I didn't have it available to check.
I read up on the web on a number of items shown in the book - alters, the cookies, etc.-- and made links in my review. But I guess there are always landmines.
It's really too bad this book used kachinas! That part about bizcochitos? Absolutely. I'm from New Mexico, and we do make these cookies for special events. I make them with pinon nuts instead of anise.
The reader who wrote to me about the book scanned two pages and sent them to me. The book isn't on local library shelves yet.
On those pages she sent me, there are some oddities. I think the illustrator meant to show red chili ristras, but they don't hang the way they are shown in the illustrations. The illustrator made them look like a garland and draped that garland over the vigas that protrude from the walls. Vigas are beams. We do hang chili ristras from vigas, but they just hang down, they don't drape as shown.
I may have updates when I get a copy of the book.
Debbie
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