Books with author Marc Simont

When a little dog appears at a family picnic, the girl and boy play with him all afternoon, and they name him Willy. At day's end they say good-bye. But the dog has won their hearts and stays on their minds.The following Saturday the family returns to the picnic grounds to look for Willy, but they are not alone -- the dogcatcher is looking for him, too...Caldecott Medalist Marc Simont's heartwarming tale of a stray dog who finds a home is told with appealing simplicity and grace.

Today, as much as ever before, the red-rock, pinon-covered state of New Mexico remains tierra encantada, "the land of enchantment," to Indians, Anglos, and descendants of the conquistadores.New Mexico's long history of intermingling peoples and of efforts to balance human needs with nature's resources can instruct a nation facing similar hard decisions in the late twentieth century. It is a story, believes author Marc Simmons, that contains within it a perpetual declaration of independence.

This popular fourth-grade-level textbook introduces the young reader to New Mexico's past and present, beginning with its geography and covering the changes in the state's culture, society, and economy from earliest times and until the present. Mindful that the student reading this book is probably learning about New Mexico history for the first time, this volume's abundant illustrations and engaging text will spark and sustain readers' interest. New Mexico has been continuously settled for over 10,000 years, and this book is centered on the various cultural traditions contributed and blended over time by many groups of people. When students finish the book, they will better understand how different cultures shaped the way we live today as well as know major events and key people in New Mexico's development. A separate teachers guide, complete with lesson plans and instructional suggestions as well as student activities and exercises, is also available. If twenty or more copies of New Mexico! are purchased, one copy of the teachers guide is free. (Call for more information.)

In the spring of 1883 Apache raiders massacred Judge McComas and his wife Juniata and kidnapped their six-year-old son Charley as the family traveled on a desolate road in southwestern New Mexico Territory, all victims of revenge sought by the Apaches for Gen. George Crook's campaign.At the time, the entire circumstances concerning this tragic incident had not been fully understood--or perhaps cared about. In Massacre on the Lordsburg Road, historian Marc Simmons brings to light one of the last massacres of the Indian wars, presenting exactly why and how the McComases met their end on that desolate road, the events that led up to it, and the public reactions that followed.Simmons recounts the raids and counter-raids leading up to the massacre and General Crook's subsequent Sierra Madre campaign. This was the first use of the "Hot Pursuit Treaty" signed between the United States and Mexico in 1882, allowing troops of either country to follow hostile Indians across the border.With balanced, honest treatment Simmons constructs from long-buried fragments the events of that fateful day, the motivation for the attack, the subsequent publicity and search for the missing son, and, in broader terms, the cultural friction and clash between the Apache and the settler. The puzzlement of why a reputably wise and able man would lead his family into such a fatal predicament, the pursuit of the Apaches into Mexico by General Crook, and the ironic circumstance of Charley McComas's death at the hands of Crook's troops in a raid on the Apache camp, illustrates that past events were as complex and as human as those today.Though academically thorough in its exploration and deliverance, Massacre on the Lordsburg Road will interest general readers of Indian history.