This landmark study in the area of adult biliteracy shows precisely how Mexican immigrant workers-especially "illegal aliens"-use the alphabet to write down spoken English outside the classroom. Based on 4 years of intensive fieldwork in a rural community.

Tomбs Kalmar's book is a charming combination of personal experience and erudite scholarship, written in an engaging fashion. The author's treatment of the politics of biliteracy, from the fruit-groves of the Midwest to the halls of academe, is both passionate and clear-sighted. The alert reader will also enjoy observing evidence of Kalmar's wide-ranging interests threading through the fabric of the book, notably his fondness for music and his fascination with mathematical and proto-mathematical thinking.