Journey to the Alamo, and: Journey to San Jacinto (review)

2??8Book Reviews87 fact classes and features, as well as die excavations in and around the mission buildings, provide die essential visual dimension to the archaeological narrative. Chapter 3 describes several distinctly defined areas of die site, notably the location of mission Indian residences and the formal mission compound where Franciscan friars and presidiai soldiers resided. Also discussed in some detail are discrete midden areas that contained abundant bones of cattle and other animals that were butchered and prepared as food. Comparisons of the relative amounts of Indian and Spanish-colonial artifacts in these different areas are of interest in helping to define how living space and labor were divided between the different cultural and ethnic groups that co-resided at the mission. Chapter 4 discusses the architectural features at the site, including the church, kitchens, and friars' quarters. Chapter 5 presents information on related sites in the vicinity, including dams used in die early attempts at acequia irrigation , a lime kiln, and a quarry where sandstone was obtained as building material. Additional chapters discuss the native and Spanish-colonial artifacts in detail, and examine mission foodways as indicated by the faunal bones recovered mainly from midden deposits. Most interesting is the evidence for the various efforts (some ofwhich, such as the acequia irrigation system, were ultimately failures) made to establish Esp íritu Santo as a viable frontier institution. One obtains a strong sense of how daunting the task may have seemed to those charged to carry it out. By presenting a close-up view of what life on the colonial Texas frontier must have been like, as represented in the actual material remains, this book offers a worthwhile addition to the library of anyone interested in this early period ofTexas history. Corpus Christi, TexasRobert A. Ricklis Journey to the Alamo. By Melodie A. Cuate. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2006. Pp. 153. Illustrations, list of historical characters, acknowledgments , translations. ISBN 0896725928. $17.95, cloth.) Journey to San Jacinto. By Melodie A. Cuate. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2007. Pp.166. Illustrations, list of historical characters, map, acknowledgments , translations. ISBN 0896726029. $ 17.95, cloth.) "Weird assignment, weird teacher, weird room" (Journey to the Alamo, p. 22), is sevendi-grader Hannah Taylor's first impression of her Texas history class and first assignment. The teacher, Mr. Barrington, has a mysterious trunk in his classroom and die first time she is near it, Hannah hears music, seemingly coming from the trunk. Left alone in Mr. Barrington's classroom, Hannah, her annoying brother Nick, and her best friend Jackie Montalvo open the trunk and get the surprise, and the adventure, of a lifetime. The three are swept back to the Alamo in early March of 1836. There, they experience the cold, dirty, and hungry privations of the fortress, meet the fascinating and very human characters who inhabit the old mission, and barely escape the onslaught of Santa Anna's 88Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly army by finding the trunk and opening it again. Back in the present, die three keep their adventure a secret. Who, after all, would believe them? The tale could have easily ended there, but thank goodness it did not. Hannah , Nick and Jackie are soon off on anodier adventure, this time to rescue Mr. Barrington (Journey to SanJacinto). The trio is joined by a substitute teacher, the niece of Mr. Barrington, and they are caught up in die events leading to die batde at San Jacinto. Again, Hannah, Nick and Jackie meet historical characters, diis time on both sides of die fighting. They grow with each of their experiences and learn, notjust about history, but about themselves. Melodie Cuate's series, "Mr. Barrington's Mysterious Trunk," is great. The history and historical characters, as far as we can know diem, are right. The human experience is compelling. The fictional trio, Hannah, Jackie and Nick, are believable and the reader will feel as if he knows diem. These are books that the reader will not be able to put down and will wait impatiendy for die next installment . (Here, I must add a personal note. After readingJourney to the Alamo, I lent the book to two students, an eighth grader and a...