BOOKSHELF

The Mouse Couple: A Hopi Folktale, retold by Ekkehart Malotki. Northland Publishing, Flagstaff. 1988. 64 pages. Available from Arizona Highways, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009; telephone (602) 258-1000. $14.95, hardcover, plus $1.00 postage.

If this tale has an author, it is the Hopi people. Oral tradition has nourished the story generation to generation.

Now Ekkehart Malotki, professor of German at Northern Arizona University and expert in Hopi language and culture, has preserved the story in print. Adding to the tale's charm are the attractive illustrations of Michael Lacapa, a Native American whose stylized forms and courageous colors appear at once avant-garde and ancient. Northland Publishing (formerly Northland Press) has done justice to the undertaking with excellent design, fine paper, and quality printing.

The dramatic growth in personal travel and communication since World War II has increased our awareness of cultural differences among the world's peoples. Yet The Phoenix Indian School: Forced Assimilation in Arizona, 1891-1935, by Robert A. Trennert, Jr. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK. 1988: 272 pages. Also available from Arizona Highways. $22.95 plus $1.50 postage.

The venerable Phoenix Indian School will soon close after almost a century of sometimes volatile history (see page 4). The valuable property it occupies at the corner of Central Avenue and Indian School Road is being exchanged for Florida wildlife habitat and cash. Yet, as Arizona State University Professor Robert A. Trennert, Jr., makes clear, the federally operated school once was a significant element in the social and economic fabric of Phoenix as well as in the lives of many Southwestern Indian students. The book decries government policies that forced Native American youngsters to forgo their own ways of Arizona. Their tribal life is replete with symbolism and ceremony. In this folktale, as in other Hopi stories, the forces of nature, both creative and destructive, play principal roles.

The story is presented for children, but a well written children's book, like a circus, appeals to all ages. The Mouse Couple has valuable lessons in its contents and delights in its design. It is a pleasant way for your child to begin to know the Hopis, and for you to begin to know your child.

the more we learn of other societies, the more we recognize our similarities. Certain basic anxieties exist among all people. The Mouse Couple clearly demonstrates some common concerns: the sweet song a child brings to a marriage, the hope we all have that our children's life mates will be noble additions to the family, the need for aid and comfort in old age, and the final blessing of peace and security.

The Hopis have lived for centuries in tight little communities atop rockcapped mesas in northern of life to become like Anglos and policies that trained them for vocational rather than academic pursuits. While forced assimilation is fading from our treatment of minority groups, one can still discern glimmers of its disastrous effects. Trennert's study is a thoughtful reminder of how such ethnocentric views have worked to humanity's great detriment.

Cow Country Cuisine, by Kathy G. McCraine. Livestock Communications, Box 430, Dewey, AZ 86327. 1988. 160 pages. $12.50, hardcover, plus $1.50 postage.

Between the leather-like covers of this handsome book are 150 creative recipes for preparing various cuts of beef. For the most part, they are contributed by ranch women, experts on the product their families provide for the nation's tables. The entrées run the A gamut from chateaubriand with marchand de vin sauce to a dish with a double-take name, "Aunt Bess's Liver." Steaks, roasts, stews, ground and barbecue beef all appear in a gourmet light. The two last sections, "Leftovers" and "On the Side," add some frugal ideas to an exceptional cookbook destined to become an authority by candlelight or campfire. (RIGHT) "Aqua Equus," by Robert J. Miley; acrylic wash on paper, 30 by 22 inches. The artist, transplanted to Phoenix from Philadelphia where he grew up, has been painting since boyhood, when at 13 be won a first-place award at the Delaware County Art Show. Of bis dynamic portrayals of horses, a favorite subject, he says, "They attempt to express the inner and most powerful qualities of these majestic beasts." Miley's work is displayed and collected throughout the United States and abroad.