Sitting Bull
Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An inspiring picture book biography of the Lakota/Sioux warrior and chief Sitting Bull, from award-winning author and illustrator S. D. Nelson
Sitting Bull (c. 1831–1890) was one of the greatest Lakota/Sioux warriors and chiefs who ever lived. He was eventually named war chief, leader of the entire Sioux nation—a title never before bestowed on anyone. As a leader, Sitting Bull resisted the United States government’s attempt to move the Lakota/Sioux to reservations for more than twenty-five years.
From Sitting Bull’s childhood—killing his first buffalo at age ten—to being named war chief, to leading his people against the U.S. Army, and to his surrender, Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People brings the story of the great chief to light. Sitting Bull was instrumental in the war against the invasive wasichus (White Man) and was at the forefront of the combat, including the Battles of Killdeer Mountain and the Little Bighorn. He and Crazy Horse were the last Lakota/Sioux to surrender their people to the U.S. government and resort to living on a reservation.
Award-winning author and member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe S. D. Nelson intersperses archival images with his own artwork, inspired by the ledger-art drawings of the nineteenth-century Lakota. Through the art and riveting story, Nelson conveys how Sitting Bull clung to his belief that the Lakota were a free people meant to live, hunt, and die on the Great Plains.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First-person narration, while invented, makes Nelson's (Digging A Hole to Heaven: Coal Miner Boys) illustrated biography of Native American warrior Sitting Bull both powerful and poignant: "The white men came to our land with two faces. They said one thing but did another. The trespassers spoke of peace and sharing while taking our hunting grounds." Calm, measured storytelling details Sioux life and customs, as well as horrific battles with the U.S. Army. Archival b&w photos punctuate Nelson's dynamic ink-and-colored-pencil illustrations, featuring stylized Native American warriors on horseback. His fluid artwork appears atop ledger paper, juxtaposing chaotic, all-over-the-page battle scenes with lined backdrops representing the white man's more rigid, record-keeping ways. Harkening to an era when imprisoned tribespeople were given discarded ledger paper on which to draw, Nelson (a member of the Sioux tribe) succeeds in showing the disconnectedness of the two cultures. The tale ends with Sitting Bull's tragically ironic death at the hands of fellow Native Americans. An extensive time line and author notes provide substantial background to reinforce the more creative tack Nelson uses to share Sitting Bull's story. Ages 8 12.
