Ann Turner's SITTING BULL REMEMBERS

[This review may not be published elsewhere without written permission of Beverly Slapin of Oyate.]

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Turner, Ann, Sitting Bull Remembers, illustrated by Wendell Minor. HarperCollins, 2007. Unpaginated, color paintings, grades 3-5; Hunkpapa Lakota

The text of Sitting Bull Remembers is vaguely reminiscent of Eve Bunting’s awful Cheyenne Again, in which a Cheyenne youngster at the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School draws in a ledger book and, in his heart, is home again. Here, “Sitting Bull,” incarcerated at an unnamed place that is probably Fort Randall, remembers his life of freedom.

In this dark room,

in this place of fences, strange smells,

and men with yellow eyes

where finally I am caught

and cannot get free,

I close my eyes and am home again….

The name of the revered Hunkpapa visionary, philosopher and war leader was Tatanka Iotanka. When he autographed picture postcards during his gigs with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, he signed his name “Sitting Bull,” and his signatory pictograph shows a buffalo bull sitting on his haunches. Although he has come to be known as “Sitting Bull,” that was not how he referred to himself. Tatanka Iotanka was not a “chief,” although the whites called him that, and his people were not the “Sioux,” although the whites called them that. Turner’s historical note at the end of the book is full of inaccuracies.

Tatanka Iotanka was beloved by his people and respected by his enemies. As Doris Seale wrote about another author of another book dealing with the same people and the same time period, “Assigning thoughts, feelings and motivations to one biographee is risky business, especially when writing about someone who essentially inhabited a different universe.” Doing this in a picture book is doubly risky, because fewer words have to tell a larger story, and pictures have to convey a larger meaning. There aren’t too many people who can successfully bring this off, and Turner and Minor can’t either.

The problems they were unable to—or unwilling to—deal with include cultural markers that they don’t recognize, but apparently think they do. An example: Turner’s “Sitting Bull” narrates an episode to demonstrate to the young reader the important attribute of generosity. This is how it comes out:

Once, chasing buffalo, an older man’s

bow broke and he could not shoot.

Another hunter lost his horse early in the chase.

That day I shot four buffalo and gave away two,

so no one would go to his tipi empty-handed.

Minor’s painting here shows a solitary Sitting Bull shooting a solitary buffalo. Neither text nor painting contains any internal logic. Where, one might ask, is the rest of the hunting party? Where, one might also ask, is the rest of the herd? And what on earth, one would most probably ask, did Sitting Bull do with the other two buffalo? Eat them himself? He would’ve had to be very hungry.

Minor’s art integrates double-page watercolor and gouache paintings with two-dimensional colored pencil ledger-style illustrations. While some of the pictographs have been copied almost exactly from Sitting Bull’s visual autobiography (see, for instance, counting first coup at age fourteen), others are outrageously flawed. For instance, the pictograph representing Sitting Bull’s vision before the Custer fight of “blue soldiers riding upside down into our village” came straight out of Turner’s and Minor’s imaginations, rather than Sitting Bull’s experience. Sitting Bull actually recounted his vision of “soldiers falling upside down into camp” as a gift from the Creator, who told him, “I give you these, because they have no ears.” Minor’s painting of Sitting Bull sitting alone on an ammo box and holding a Calf Pipe is taken from a photo of him with Seen-by-the-Nation, the elder of his two wives, when they were prisoners at Fort Randall in 1882. And Minor’s representation of a monarch butterfly perched on Sitting Bull’s hat both on the cover and the first interior spread (implying that it has some spiritual significance, maybe a spirit guide?) was actually a dead butterfly pinned to his hatband in a well-known portrait.

There is more just like this, in word and picture. Turner’s “Sitting Bull” is incredulous at the “noise and smoke and greed” of the white people. “I do not understand such ways,” he says. “They are not the way of the Sioux.” And elsewhere, he asks, “How could they break their word for the sake of a yellow rock?” Tatanka Iotanka was a military genious and a diplomat as well. He was not ignorant and he was not blindsided by the ways of the enemy.

After Turner’s “Sitting Bull” has surrendered, he says,

Here I am—the one they wanted—

the medicine man, the war leader,

caught like a bear in a trap

without claws (they took my weapons)

and with only some of my people left.

Now the white men give us food,

and the once proud warriors are like toothless old ones,

dependent on gifts.

It is doubtful that Tatanka Iotanka ever felt sorry for himself. And it is doubly doubtful that he would have disrespected elders in this way. Yet this dreadful dirge-like account of his life continues all through this story.

In the final two-page spread, a meadowlark sits on a piece of deadwood in a barren meadow, and Turner’s “Sitting Bull” says,

But when I open my eyes

it is all gone,

and only my voice is left,

telling of how it used to be.

But Sitting Bull’s voice is Turner’s voice. It’s clear she doesn’t know anything about Sitting Bull or anything about the land he and his people inhabited and fought to keep. A Lakota friend said about this book, “What arrogance, what hubris, to put words in Sitting Bull’s mouth.” And another Lakota friend remarked, “This is kind of pathetic.”

The author’s and artist’s caveats nothwithstanding (Turner’s, that her work is an “imaginative exploration of the side of history that the facts cannot always give us” and Minor’s, that “artistic license has been taken to create the strongest visual story”), there is no excuse for what they have done. Sitting Bull Remembers is no better than Turner’s atrocious The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The Diary of Sarah Nita.—Beverly Slapin

Ann Turner's note in FATHER OF LIES

Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian posted a review of Ann Turner's Father of Lies. The book is about the Salem witch trials. In their review (dated Feb 24, 2011), they feature an excerpt from an author's note in the book:

The opinions about Native Americans expressed in this novel only reflect the historical record and not this author's beliefs. They are important to understanding this period. In Chapters Nineteen and Twenty-Seven, some of the responses in the witch trials are taken directly from the historical transcripts of the trials."

They go on to note what Turner's note refers to:

Truthfully, there is very little mention of Native Americans at all in the book, and it comes in the form of comments you would expect from the townspeople of that time - (from an 'afflicted' girl) "I vow the Devil was tall, dark, and wicked looking, like our enemies the Indians, with an evil heart inside." 

I have several thoughts on Turner's note.

Ann Turner wrote a book in Scholastic's Dear America series. Titled The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl, New Mexico, 1864, it was soundly critiqued by Beverly Slapin in A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children (by the way, A Broken Flute is a key resource and is now available in ebook from Googlebooks). In that book, Turner tried--and failed--to write from the perspective of a Dine (Navajo) child. She also failed in her attempt to write from the perspective of Sitting Bull in her book Sitting Bull Remembers. Slapin's review of Sitting Bull Remembers is here.

I wonder if those critiques prompted Turner to include the note pointing out the opinions her character expresses are from a historical transcript and not her own creation? Either way, I think it is useful to include the note. It points readers to historical documents, and that's a good thing to do. My copy of the book hasn't arrived yet, but when I get it, I'll say more about the documents. I hope she provides titles of them elsewhere in her note or in a bibliography. I'd like to read that transcript. I did a quick search using "the Devil was talk, dark, and wicked looking" and didn't find anything.


That said, it is important to point out that the note itself says that the opinions reflect "the historical record." In fact, there is more than one historical record. Turner is referring to the historical record of the white people in Salem Village in Massachusetts in 1692. Her note would be far better if she said she is referring to "a historical record." There were, of course, many Native villages all through that area. I doubt that they would liken themselves to the Puritan's Devil. Their historical record, in other words, is not the same as the one of the white people in Salem Village. 
At her website, Ann Turner has a page about her young adult books. There, she's got a "Coming in 2009" section that says:

--Father of Lies ---a novel set in the time of the Salem Witch Trials, but with a difference: the heroine has s [sic] disorder which gives her an eye of truth into the lies of the village; HarperCollins, Fall, 2009.

Turner tells us that in Father of Lies, she is doing something different. As she said on her website, her heroine has an eye for truth into the lies told by people in the village. I guess the heroine doesn't have an eye for the truth about Native people...  Or maybe we're to believe that all the people in the village believed Indians had evil hearts. I suppose that is possible, but if Ann Turner is doing something different already, wouldn't it have been cool if her heroine could see through the village "truths" about Indians, too?

Books Reviewed in THROUGH INDIAN EYES

In the 1990s during graduate school, I read a book called Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children. Prior to grad school, I had been teaching elementary school and was continually disappointed with the ways that American Indians were portrayed in children's books. I was very glad to know about Through Indian Eyes. Edited by Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale, the book is packed with critical reviews, essays, and poems. Today, I'm listing the books reviewed in Through Indian Eyes. If you don't have a copy, you should get one. It is available in paperback from Oyate, a Native not-for-profit organization, for $25.

Books reviewed in Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children (Note: this is NOT a list of recommended books! Some are worth having; others are not.)

• Ashabranner, Brent. Children of the Maya; Morning Star, Black Sun; To Live in Two Worlds
  
• Armstrong, Jeanette. Neekna and Chemai
  
• Awiakta, Marilous. Rising Fawn and the Fire Mystery
• Baker, Betty. Three Fools and a Horse
• Baker, Olaf. Where the Buffaloes Begin
• Banks, Lynne Reid. The Indian in the Cupboard; The Return of the Indian
• Baylor, Byrd. Before You Came This Way; The Desert is Theirs; A God on Every Mountain Top; Hawk, I'm Your Brother; They Put on Masks
• Benton-Banai, Edward. The Mishomis Book
• Bierhorst, John. Doctor Coyote
• Big Crow, Moses Nelson/Eyo Hiktepi. A Legend from Crazy Horse Clan
• Blood, Charles, and Martin Link. The Goat in the Rug
• Brescia, Bill (ed). Our Mother Corn
• Brewer, Linda Skinner. O Wakaga
• Broker, Ignatia. Night Flying Woman
• Brown, Dee. Tepee Tales of the American Indian
• Bruchac, Joseph. Iroquois Stories; Iroquois Stories: Heroes and Heroines, Monsters and Magic; Songs From This Earth on Turtle's Back; The Wind Eagle and Other Abenaki Stories
• Charging Eagle, Tom and Ron Zeilinger. Black Hills, Sacred Hills
• Collura, Mary-Ellen Lang. Winners
• Cooper, Amy Jo. Dream Quest
• Kleitsch, Christel and Paul Stephens. Dancing Feathers; A Time to be Brave
• D'Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. George Washington; Pocahontas.
• DePaola, Tomie. The Legend of the Bluebonnet
• Durham, Jimmie. Columbus Day
• Fleischer, Jane. Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawas; Sitting Bull, Warrior of the Sioux; Tecumseh, Shawnee War Chief
  
• Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union Title IV Indian Education Program. Finding One's Way
• Friskey, Margaret. Indian Two Feet and His Horse
• Fritz, Jean. The Double Life of Pocahontas; The Good Giants and the Bad Puckwudgies
• Goble, Paul. Buffalo Woman; Death of the Iron Horse; Star Boy
• Green, Richard G. Wundoa: "I'm Number One"
• Haseley, Dennis. The Scared One
• Henry, Edna/We-Cha-Pi-Tu-Wen/Blue Star Woman. Native American Cookbook
• Henry, Jeanette and Rupert Costo. A Thousand Years of American Indian Storytelling
• Highwater, Jamake. The Ceremony of Innocence
• Hirschfelder, Arlene. American Indian Stereotypes in the World of Children; Happily May I Walk
• Hudson, Jan. Sweetgrass
• Hungry Wolf, Beverly. The Ways of My Grandmothers
• Jassem, Kate. Chief Joseph, Leader of Destiny; Pocahontas, Girl of Jamestown; Sacajawea, Wilderness Guide; Squanto, The Pilgrim Adventure
  
• Johnston, Basil. How the Birds got their Colours
• Katz, Jane. This Song Remembers: Self Portraits of Native American in the Arts
• LeSueur, Meridel. Sparrow Hawk
• Lyons, Grant. Pacific Coast Indians of North America
• Maher, Ramona. Alice Yazzie's Year
• Martin, Bill and John Archambault. Knots on a Counting Rope
• Martinson, David. Real Wild Rice; Shemay: The Bird in the Sugarbush
• Mathers, Sharon, Linda Skinner, and Terry Tafoya. The Mamook Book: Activities for Learning about the Northwest Coast Indians
• Mayne, William. Drift
• McGovern, Ann. If You Lived with the Sioux Indians
• Miles, Miska. Annie and the Old One
• Munsch, Robert and Michael Kusugak. A Promise is a Promise
• Nabokov, Peter. Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present, 1492-1992
• New Mexico People and Energy Collective. Red Ribbons for Emma
• Norman, Howard. Who-Paddled-Backward-With-Trout
• North American Indian Travelling College. Legends of Our Nations
• O'Dell, Scott. Black Star, Bright Dawn
• Okahagan Tribal Council. How Food Was Given; How Names Were Given; How Turtle Set the Animals Free
• Oppenheim, Joanne. Black Hawk; Oscela; Sequoyah
  
• Ortiz, Simon J. The People Shall Continue
• Paige, Harry W. John Stands
• Patacsil, Sharon and Colleen Neal. Daybreak Star Preschool Activities Book
• Poatgieter, Hermina. Indian Legacy: Native American Influences on World Life and Cultures
• Rock Point Community School. Between Sacred Mountains: Navajo Stories and Lessons from the Land
• Roth, Susan. Kanahena: A Cherokee Story
• Siberell, Anne. Whale in the Sky
• Speare, Elizabeth George. The Sign of the Beaver
• Steltzer, Ulli. A Haida Potlach
• St. Paul Community Programs in the Arts and Sciences. Angwamas Minosewag Anishinabeg: Time of the Indian
• Staheli, Julie West. Kachinas Color and Cut-Out Collection
• Steptoe, John. The Story of Jumping Mouse
• Strete, Craig Kee. When Grandfather Journeys into Winter; The Bleeding Man and Other Science Fiction Stories
• TallMountain, Mary. Green March Moons
• Tapahonso, Luci. A Breeze Swept Through
• Tohono O'odham Tribal Council. Tohono O'odham: Lives of the Desert People
• Trimble, Stephen and Harvey Lloyd. Our Voices Our Land
  
• Wallin, Luke. Ceremony of the Panther; In the Shadow of the Wind
  
• Weeks, Rupert. Pachee Goyo: History and Legends from the Shoshone
• Yue, Charlotte and David Yue. The Pueblo; The Tipi: A Center of Native American Life
• Zitrkala-Sa/Gertrude Bonin. Old Indian Legends
  

Index of Books Reviewed (or otherwise referenced) in A BROKEN FLUTE: THE NATIVE EXPERIENCE IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

In 2005, one of the very best resources for critical reviews of book with American Indian content was published. The book is called A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children. Reviews in the book are by 58 different people, many of whom are American Indian.

Reviews in A Broken Flute look critically at the way that American Indians are presented. A good many children’s books with Native content receive rave reviews from mainstream journals whose primary concern is with the literary aspects of a story. Too often, little attention is paid to the accuracy of the story, or the underlying bias and ideology that casts American Indians in ways that suggest we are super- or sub-human creatures whose existence is confined to the remote past, or a mythological space and time. 

If you arrived at this webpage due to an Internet search on a specific title, I encourage you to locate a copy of A Broken Flute and read the review therein. If you already own the book, use the review to help children learn how to look critically at the ways that American Indians are presented in the book. A Broken Flute is available from Oyate.

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving

Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet

Acorn Soup

Across the Wide River

Adaline Falling Star

Adopted by the Eagles

Adventure on Thunder Island

After and Before the Lightning

An Algonquian Year: The Year According to the Full Moon

"Amazing Indian Children" Series:

• Amee-nah: Zuni Boy Runs the Race of His Life
• Doe Sia: Bannock Girl and the Handcart Pioneers
• Kunu: Winnebago Boy Escapes
• Moho Wat: Sheepeater Boy Attempts a Rescue
• Naya Nuki: Shoshoni Girl Who Ran
• Om-kas-toe: Blackfeet Twin Captures an Elkdog
• Pathki Nana: Kootenai Girl Solves a Mystery
• Soun Tetoken: Nez Perce Boy Tames a Stallion

American Indian Myths and Legends
American Indian Mythology, Kiowa Voices, Vol. II: Myths, Legends and Folktales

American Indian Stories

American Indian Trickster Tales

America's Fascinating Indian Heritage

Amikoonse (Little Beaver)

And Still the Turtle Watched

Angela Weaves a Dream: The Story of a Young Maya Artist

Anna's Athabaskan Summer

Antelope Woman

Apache Children and Elders Talk Together

Apache Rodeo

April Raintree

Ararapikva: Creation Stories other People

Arctic Hunter

Arrow Over the Door

Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale

Ashkii and His Grandfather

As Long as the Rivers Flow

Atlas of the North American Indian

Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences

Back in the Beforetime: Tales of the California Indians

Bead on an Anthill: A Lakota Childhood

Bears Make Rock Soup and other stories

Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School

Beneath the Stone: A Mexican Zapotec Tale

Best Thanksgiving Book: ABC Adventures

Bighorse the Warrior

The Big Tree and the Little Tree

Bineshinnh Dibaajmowin/Bird Talk

The Birchbark House

The Bird who Cleans the World and the Mayan Fables

The Birth of Nanbosho

The Birthday Bear

Bison for Kids

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux

Blackfoot Children and Elders Talk Together

Black Mountain Boy: A Story of the Boyoood of John Honie

The Blizzard’s Robe

The Blue Roses

Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940

Boat Ride with Lilian Two Blossom

Bone Dance

The Book of Medicines

Boozhoo, Come Play with us

The Boxcar Children: The Mytstery of the Lost Village

A Boy Becomes a Man at Wounded Knee

The Boy Who Loved Mourning

The Boy Who Made Dragonfly

A Braid of Lives: Native American Childhood

Brave Bear and the Ghosts: A Sioux Legend

Brave Eagle’s Account of the Fetterman Fight

The Bravest Flute: A Story of Courage in the Mayan Tradition

Bring Back the Deer

Brothers in Arms

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky

Buffalo: with Selections from Native American Song-Poems illustrated with original paintings

Buffalo Before Breakfast

Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden: Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians

Buffalo Days

Buffalo Dreams

Buffalo Hunt

The Buffalo Jump

Building an Igloo

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Caddie Woodlawn

California Missions to Cut out: Book 1

California Missions: Projects and Layouts

Caribou Song/atihko nikamon

Cherokee Sister

Cheryl Bibalhats/Cheryl’s Potlach

Chester Bear, Where Are You?

Cheyenne Again

The Chichi Hoohoo Bogeyman

Children of Clay: A Family of Pueblo Potters

Children of the First People

Children of the Great Muskeg

Children of Guatemala

Children of the Indian Boarding Schools

Children of the Midnight Sun: Young Native Voices of Alaska

Children of the Maya: A Guatemalan Odyssey

Children of Native American Today

Children of the Sierra Madre

Children of the Tlingit

Children of the Longhouse

Children of Yucatan

The Choctaw Code

Chronicles of American Indian Protest

Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition

Clamshell Boy: A Makah Legend

Cloud Eyes

Continuum

"Council for Indian Education" Series:

• Charlie Young Bear
• The Day of the Ogre Kachinas
• Fire Mate
• From the Ashes
• Heart of Naosaqua
• Navajo Long Walk (Armstrong)
• Nesuya's Basket
• Quest for Courage

The Courage of Sarah Noble

A Coyote Columbus Story

Coyote Fights the Sun: A Shasta Indian Tale

Coyote and the Fire Stick: A Pacific Northwest Indian Tale

Coyote and the Grasshoppers: A Pomo Legend

Coyote and the Laughing Butterflies

Coyote and Little Turtle

Coyote in Love

Coyote in Love with a Star

Coyote and the Magic Words

Coyote Makes Man

Coyote Places the Stars

The Coyote Rings the Wrong Bell

Coyote Sings to the Moon

Coyote Steals the Blanket: A Ute Tale

Coyote Stories

Coyote Stories for Children

Coyote Stories of the Montana Salish Indians

Coyote Stories of the Navajo People

Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest

Coyote the Trickster

Coyote and the Winnowing Birds

Crafts for Thanksgiving

Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas

Crazy Horse’s Vision

Crow Children and Elders Talk Together

The Crying Christmas Tree

Dakota Dreams

Dancing Drum: A Cherokee Legend

Dancing Rainbows

Dancing with the Indians

Dancing with the Wind: The ArtsReach Literary Magazine

Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road

Daughter of Suqua

Day of the Dead: A Mexican- American Celebration

The Days of Augusta

The Day Sun Was Stolen

Death of the Iron Horse

Dezbah and the Dancing Tumbleweeds

The Diary of Anne Frank

Did You Hear Wind Sing Your Name? An Oneida Song of Spring

The Dirt is Red Here

Dirt Road Home

Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden

Doe Sia: Bannock Girl and the Handcart Pioneers

Doesn’t Fall Off His Horse

Don’t Know Much About Sitting Bull

Dragonfly Kites/pijihakanisa

Dragonfly’s Tale

Dreamcatcher (Maynard)

Dreamcatcher (Osofsky)

The Dreamcatcher: Keep your happy dreams-forever!

Drumbeat, Heartbeat: A Celebration of the PowWow

Durable Breathe

Eagle Feather

Eagle Feather—An Honor

Eagle Song

Earth Daughter: Alicia of Acoma Pueblo

Earth Maker’s Lodge: Native American Folklore, Activities, and Foods

Earthmaker’s Tales: North American Indian Stories About Earth Happenings

Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928

Elderberry Flute Song: Contemporary Coyote Tales

Emma and the Trees/Emma minwaah mtigooh

Enduring Wisdon: Sayings from Native Americans

Eskimo Boy: Life in an Inupiaq Eskimo Village

The Eye of the Needle

Eyes of Darkness

False Face

Feather in the Wind

A Few More Stories: Contemporary Seneca Indian Tales of the Supernatural

Firefly Night

Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale

The First American Thanksgiving

First Came the Indians

First Nations Families

First Nations Technology

The First Thanksgiving (George)

The First Thanksgiving (Hayward)

The First Thanksgiving (Jackson)

The First Thanksgiving (Rogers)

First Woman and the Strawberry: A Cherokee Legend

Five Little Katchinas

The Flute Player

Follow the Stars: A Native American Woodlands Tale

Food and Recipes of the Native Americans

Forbidden Talent

Fort Chipewyan Homecoming: A Journey to Native Canada

Fox on the Ice/mahkesis miskwamihk e-cipatapit

Fox Song

Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition

From Abenaki to Zuni: A Dictionary of Native American Tribes

From the Belly of the Beast

From the Deep Woods to Civilization

From the Land of the White Birch

Frozen Land: Vanishing Cultures

The Gathering: Stories for the Medicine Wheel

The Gift of the Sacred Pipe

Ghost Dance (Seale)

The Ghost Dance (McLerran)

The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890

A Gift for Ampato

Gift Horse

The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl, New Mexico, 1864

Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America

Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message

Gold Fever

Goodbird the Indian: His Story

The Good Luck Cat

Good News from New England: A True Relation of Things Very Remarkable at the Plantation of Plimoth in New England

The Grandchildren of the Incas

Grandchildren of the Lakota

Grandfather Drum

Grandfather Four Winds and Rising Moon

Grandmother’s Pigeon

Grandma’s Special Feeling

Grandmother Five Baskets

Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher

Grandmother’s Gift: Stories from the Anishinaabeg

The Great Buffalo Race

The Great Canoes: Revising a Northwest Coast Tradition

Green Grass, Running Water

Growing up Native American

Growing Up: Where the Partridge Drums Its Wings

Halfbreed

The Handbook of North American Indians, California

Headliner’s Island

Hands-on Latin American: Art Activities for All Ages

Hau Kola-Hello Friend

A Heart Full of Turquoise

Here Comes Tricky Rabbit!

Hiroshima No Pika

History of the Ojibway Nation

Home Country

Home to Medicine Mountain

Honour the sun

Horse Raid: An Arapaho Camp in the 1800s

House Made of Dawn

How the Birch Tree Got Its Stripes

How Chipmunk Got his Stripes

How to Draw Indian Arts and Crafts

How Eagle Got His Good Eyes

How the Indians Bought the Farm

How the Loon Lost Her Voice

How Magpie Got His Yellow Bill

How the Mouse Got Brown Teeth

How Raven Freed the Moon

How the Robin Got Its Red Breast: A Legend of the Sechelt People

How the Seasons Came: A North American Indian Folktale

How the Stars Fell Into the Sky

The Hunter and the Woodpecker

I Can’t Have Bannock but the Beaver Has a Dam

If You Were At…The First Thanksgiving

I Knew Two Metis Women

Iktomi and the Buzzard

Iktomi and the Coyote

Iktomi and the Ducks

Iktomi Loses His Eyes

I Heard the Owl Call My Name

I’ll sing ‘til the day I die: Conversations with Tyendinaga Elders

The Illustrated History of the Chippewas of Nawah

in a vast dreaming

Indian Boyhood

Indian Cartography

Indian Crafts and Activity Book

Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains

The Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

The Indians’ Book

The Indian in His Wigwam

The Indian School

Indian School Days

Indian School: Teaching the White Man’s Way

Indian Shoes

In the Fifth World: Portrait of the Navajo Nation

Ininatig’s Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking

Initiation

Into the Moon: Heart, Mind, Body, Soul

In Two Words: A Yup’ik Eskimo Family

Iron Horses

Isaac’s Dreamcatcher

Ishi: America’s Last Stone Age Indian

Ishi Rediscovered

Ishi’s Journey, from the Center to the Edge of the World: A Historical Novel about the Last Wild Indian in North America

Ishi: The Last of His People

Ishi’s Tale of Lizard

Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America

Island of Los Luggage

Is My Friend at Home? Pueblo Fireside Tales

Itch Like Crazy

It Could Always Be Worse

It’s a Family Thanksgiving

Jack Pine Fish Camp

James Bay Memories

Jason and the Sea Otter

Jason’s New Dugout Canoe

Jingle Dancer

The Journal of Julia Singing Bear

Jumping Mouse and the Great Mountain: A Native American Tale

“Just Talking About Ourselves”: Voices of Our Youth

Ka-ha-si and the Loon: An Eskimo Legend

Karok Myths

"Kaya" Series:

• Changes for Kaya: A Story of Courage
• Kaya's Escape! A Survival Story
• Kaya's Hero: A Story of Giving
• Kaya and Lone Dog: A Friendship Story
• Kaya and the River Girl
• Kaya Shows the Way: A Sister Story
• Meet Kaya: An American Girl

Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children

Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children

Keepers of Life: Discovering Plants through Native American Stories and Earth Activities for Children

The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: Three Eyewitness Views by the Indian, Chief He Dog, the Indian-White, William Garnett, and the White Doctor, Valentine McGillycuddy

Kinaalda: A Navajo Girl Grows Up

Kokopelli and the Butterfly

Kokopelli’s Gift

Kokopelli, Drum in Belly

Kumak’s House: A Tale of the Far North

Ktunaxa Legends

Kwulasulwut: Stories from the Coast Salish

Kwulasulwut II: More Stories from the Coast Salish

Kyle’s Bath

Lakota and Dakota Animal Wisdom Stories

Lacrosse: The National Game of the Iroquois

Ladder to the Sky: How the Gift of Healing Came to the Ojibway Nation

Lakota Sioux Children and Elders Talk Together

Land of the Spotted Eagle

The Landing of the Pilgrims

Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall

The Last Warrior

The Last Yahi: A Novel About Ishi

The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle

The Legend of Jimmy Spoon

The Legend of Mexicatl

The Legend of the Lady Slipper

The Legend of Lady’s Slipper

The Legend of Leelanau

The Legend of the Loon

The Legend of Mackinac Island

The Legend of Sleeping Bear

The Legend of Spinoza, the Bear Who Speaks from the Heart

Legend of the White Buffalo Woman

Legends of the Iroquois

Lessons from Mother Earth

Lessons from Turtle Island: Native Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms

Less than Half, More than Whole

Let’s Be Indians!

Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving

Lies to Live By

The Life and Death of Crazy Horse

The Light on the Tent Wall

Listen to the Night: Poems for the Animal Spirits of Mother Earth

Little Bear’s Vision Quest

Little Coyote Runs Away

The Little Duck/Sikhpsis

Little Eagle Lots of Owls

Little Firefly: An Algonquian Legend

A Little History of My Forest Life: An Indian-White Autobiography by Eliza Morrison

Little House on the Prairie

Little Voice

Little White Cabin

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

The Long March

Longwalker’s Journey: A Novel of the Choctaw Trail of Tears

Lord of the Animals: A Miwok Indian Creation Myth

Lost Bird of Wounded Knee: Spirit of the Lakota

The Lost Boy and the Monster

Luminaries of the Humble

Maata’s Journal

Maybe I Will Do Something: Seven Coyote Tales

Maii and Cousin Horned Toad

Mali Npnaqs: The Story of a Mean Little Old Lady

Mama, Do You Love Me?

Mama’s Little One

Manabozho’s Gifts: Three Chippewa Tales

The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway

The Matchlock Gun

Mayers: A Yucatec Maya Family

Mayuk the Grizzly Bear

Meet Mindy: A Native Girl from the Southwest

Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake bay Area

Meet Tricky Coyote!

Memory Songs

The Middle Five: Indian Schoolboys of the Omaha Tribe

Millie Cooper’s Ride: A True Story from History

Minik’s Story

Mink and Cloud

Mink and Grey Bird

Mink and Granny

Mink and Whale

Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway

The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway

Missions of the Central Coast

Missions of the Inland Valleys

Missions of the Los Angeles Area

Missions of the Monterey Bay Area

Missions of the San Francisco Bay Area

Missions of the Southern Coast

Mohawk Trail

Montezuma and the Aztecs

Moon Mother: A Native American Creation Tale

Moonstick: The Seasons of the Sioux

The Moon, the Sun, and the Coyote

More Earthmaker’s Tales: North American Indian Stories About Earth Happenings

More Star Tales: North American Indian Stories about the Stars

Morning on the Lake

Morning Sun, Black Star: The Northern Cheyenne Indians and America’s Energy Crisis

The Morning the Sun Went Down

Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth

Murdo’s Story: A Legend from Northern Manitoba

“Mush-hole”: Memories of a Residential School

Muskrat Will Be Swimming

My Arctic 1, 2, 3

My Grandmother’s Cookie Jar

My Heart Is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl, Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, 1880

My Indian Boyhood

My Name is Seepeetza

My Navajo Sister

My People, the Sioux

Mystery of Coyote Canyon

Mystery of the Navajo Moon

Myths of the Cherokee

Myths and Legends of the Sioux

Nanabosho Dances

Nanabosho: How the Turtle Got Its Shell

Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle, and the Great Sturgeon

Nanobosho Steals Fire

Nanabosho and the Woodpecker

Native America: Portrait of the Peoples

Native American Culture Series: Arts and Crafts

Native American Culture Series: Child Reading

Native American Culture Series: Daily Life

Native American Culture Series: The European Invasion

Native American Culture Series: Spiritual Life

Native American Culture Series: Tribal Law

A Native American Feast

Native American Gardening: Stories, Projects, and Recipes for Families

Native American Picture Books of Change: The Art of Historic Children’s Editions

Native American Testimony

Native Americans

Native Americans in Children’s Literature

Native Americans: Projects, Games and Activities for Grades K-3

Native Americans: Projects, Games and Activities for Grades 4-6

Native North American Literature

The Naughty Little Rabbit and Old Man Coyote

Navajo ABC: A Dine Alphabet Book

Navajo Coyote Tales

Navajo Creation Myth: The Story of the Emergence

Navajo Long Walk (Armstrong)

Navajo Long Walk (Bruchac)

Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Period

Navajo: Visions and Voices Across the Mesa

Night Is Gone, Day Is Still Coming: Stories and Poems by American Indian Teens and Young Adults

The Night the White Deer Died

Nishnawbe: A Story of Indians in Michigan

No Borders

No Parole Today

Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails

Northwest Coast Indians

Northwoods Cradle Song: From a Menominee Lullaby

No Time to Say Goodbye: Children’s Stories of Kuper Island Residential School

Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert

Of Mother Earth and Father Sky: A Photographic Study of Navajo Cultures

Of Plymouth Plantation

Ojibwa Texts

The Ojibway Dream

Ojibway Family Life in Minnesota

Old Bag of Bones: A Coyote Tale

Old Enough

Old Father Storyteller

The Old Hogan

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims

One More Story: Contemporary Seneca Indian Tales of the Supernatural

On Mother’s Lap

On the Trail of Elder Brother: Gous’gap Stories of the Micmac Nation

On the Trail Made of Dawn: Native American Creation Stories

Orca’s Song

The Other Side of Nowhere

Our Journey

Outfoxing Coyote

Outlaws, Renegades and Saints: Diary of a Mixed-up Halfbreed

Pablo Remembers: The Fiesta of the Day of the Dead

Pah

Partial Recall: Photographs of Native North Americans

Pasquala: The Story of a California Indian Girl

The Path of the Quiet Elk

People of the Breaking Day

People of Salmon and Cedar

The People with Five Fingers

Photographs and Poems by Sioux Children

Pia Toya: A Goshute Indian Legend

The Pilgrims and Me

The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving

Pipaluk and the Whales

The Place at the Edge of the Earth

Plains Indians Diorama to Cut and Assemble

Pomo Basketmaking: A supreme art for the weaver

Popul Vuh

A Portrait of Spotted Deer’s Grandfather

Potlach: A Tsimshian Celebration

Power

Powwow

Powwow Summer: A Family Celebrates the Circle of Life

The Prince and the Salmon People

Protectors of the Land: An Environmental Journey to Understanding the Conservation Ethic

Pte Oyate: Buffalo Nations, Buffalo People

Pueblo Boy: Growing Up in Two Worlds

Pueblo Girls: Growing Up in Two Worlds

Pueblo Storyteller

Quest for the Eagle Feather

Questions and Swords: Folktales of the Zapatista Revolution

A Quick Brush of Wings

Quillworker: A Cheyenne Legend

Rachel’s Children

The Rainbow Bridge

The Rainbow Bridge: A Chumash Legend

Rainbow Crow

A Rainbow at Night: The World in Words and Pictures by Navajo Children

Rain Is Not My Indian Name

Rainy’s Powwow

The Range Eternal

Raven and the Moon and The Oystercatcher: Two Haida Legends

Raven Goes Berrypicking

Raven Returns the Water

Raven and Snipe

Raven’s Gift

Raven’s Light: A Myth from the People of the Northwest Coast

The Raven Steals the Light

Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest

A Really Good Brown Girl

Recovering the Word: Essays on Native American Literature

Red Hawk’s Account of Custer’s Last Battle

Red Hawk and the Sky Sisters: A Shawnee Legend

Red Flower Goes West

Red Indian Fair Book

Red Parka Mary

red woman with backward dyes

The Return of crazy horse

Rising Voices: Writings of Young Native Americans

A River Lost

Rolly’s Bear

The Rough-Face Girl

Runs With Horses

The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Saanii Dahataal: The Women Are Singing

Salmon Boy

A Salmon for Simon

Salmon Summer

Sculpted Stones/Piedras Labradas

Seaman’s Journal: On the Trail with Lewis and Clark

The Sea Monster’s Secret

Searching for Chipeta: The Story of a Ute and Her People

The Second Bend in the River

The Secrets and Mysteries of the Cherokee Little People, Yunwi Tsunsdi

The Secret of the White Buffalo

Seeds of Struggle, Songs of Hope: Poetry of Emerging Youth y Sus Maestros del Movimeniento

Selu: Seeking the Corn Mother’s Wisdom

Seminole Children and Elders Talk Together

The Seven Fires: An Ojibway Prophecy

The Seven Visions of Bull Lodge as Told by His Daughter Garter Snake

Seya’s Song

Shannon: An Ojibway Dancer

Shingebiss: An Ojibwa Legend

Shooting Back from the Reservation: A Photographic View of Life by Native American Youth

The Sign of the Beaver

Sika and the Raven

Sing Down the Moon

Sing Down the Rain

The Sioux: Facts, Stories, Activities

Sitting Bull, Champion of the Sioux

Sitting Bull and His World

Skeleton Man

The Sketchbook of Thomas Blue Eagle

Skunny Wundy and other Indian Tales

SkySisters

The Snake that Lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Other Ohlone Stories

Soaring Spirits: Conversations with Native American Teens

Solar Storms

Soloman’s Tree

Son of Raven, Son of Deer: Fables of the Tse-Shaht People

Song of the Hermit Thrust: An Iroquois Legend

Song of Sedna

Songs from the Loom: A Navajo Girl Learns to Weave

Songs of Shiprock Fair

The Song Within My Heart

The Sound of Flutes

Speak to Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry

Spider Spins a Story: Fourteen Legends from Native America

Spider Woman

The Spirit Line

Spirit of the Maya: A Boy Explores His People’s Mysterious Past

Spirit of the White Bison

Spirit Transformed: A Journey from Tree to Totem

Spirit Voices of Bones

Spotted Eagle and Black Crow: A Lakota Legend

Spotted Tail’s Folk: A History of the Brule Sioux

The Spring Celebration

Squanto and the First Thanksgiving

The Star Maiden

Star Tales: North American Indian Stories about the Stars

Stories of the Road Allowance People

The Story of Blue Elk

The Story of Colors/La Historia de los Colores

A Story of the Dreamcatcher

The Story of the First Thanksgiving

The Story of Jumping Mouse: A Native American Legend

The Story of the Pilgrims

A Story to Tell: Traditions of a Tlingit Community

The Storyteller’s Sourcebook

The Story of Thanksgiving (Bartlett)

The Story of Thanksgiving (Skarmeas)

Strong Hearts: Native American Visions and Voices

The Sugar Bush

Sunflower’s Promise: A Zuni Legend

Sunpainters: Eclipse of the Navajo Sun

Supper for Crow: A Northwest Coast Indian Tale

A Symphony of Whales

T’aal: The One who Takes Bad Children

The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote

Ten Little Rabbits

Testimony: Death of a Guatemalan Village

The Thanksgiving Beast Feast

Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book

Thanksgiving Day (Gibbons)

Thanksgiving Day (Rockwell)

Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective

The Thanksgiving Story

That Tricky Coyote!

Thunderwoman: A Mythic Novel of the Pueblos

The Truth about Sacajawea

There Still are Buffalo

They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths

They Were Strong and Good

This Land is My Land

Those Tiny Bits of Beans

Thunder Bear and Ko: The Buffalo Nation and Nambe Pueblo

Time Among the Navajos: Traditional Lifeways on the Reservation

Tjatjakiymatchan (Coyote): A Legend from Carmel Valley

To Kill an Indian: Indian Views on the Last Days of Crazy Horse

To Live in Two Worlds: American Indian Youth Today

Tonweya and the Eagles and Other Lakota Tales

Totem Pole

Totem Pole Carving: Bringing a Log to Life

Truth and Bright Water

The Turkey Girl: A Zuni Cinderella Story

Turkey’s, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn

Turquoise Boy: A Navajo Legend

Turtle Island: Tales of the Algonquian Nation

Turtle Lung Woman’s Granddaughter

Turtle Meat and other Stories

Turtle’s Race with Beaver

Two Bad Boys: A Very Old Cherokee Tale

Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California’s Yosemite Valley

Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival

Two Pairs of Shoes

Urban Voices: The Bay Area Indian Community

The Upstairs room

The Vanishing Race and Other Illusions: Photographs of Indians by Edward S. Curtis

Vatos

The Very First Americans

The Very First Thanksgiving Day

Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1900-1970

Waboseg (An Ojibwe story about Rabbits’ ears)

Waheenee: An Indian Girl’s Story

Wait for Me!

Walking the Choctaw Road

Walks in Beauty

Walk Two Moons

Waleye Warriors: An Effective Alliance Against Racism and for the Earth

War of the Eagles

Waterlily

Watership Down

We Are All Related: A Celebration of Our Cultural Heritage

We Are the Many: A Picture Book of American Indians

Weaving a California Tradition: A Native American Basketweaver

Weave Little Stars Into My Sleep: Native American Lullabies

Whale Brother

Whale Girl

When Beaver Was Very Great

When the Chenoo Howls: Native American Tales of Terror

When the Moon is Full: A Lunar Year

When the Rain Sings: Poems by Young Native Americans

When the World Ended, How Hummingbird Got Fire, How People Were Made

Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse

Where Did You Get Your Moccasins

Where Only the Elders Go—Moon Lake Loon Lake

Where There Is No Name for Art: The Art of Tewa Pueblo Children

Where the Rivers Meet

Whispers Among the Mission Trail

Whispers from the First Californians: A Story of California’s First People

White Buffalo Woman: A Storybook Based on Indian Legend

White Wolf

who will tell my brother?

Why Buffalo Roam

Wild Rice and the Ojibway People

The Winter People

Winter Thunder: Retold Tales

Wisahkecahk Flies to the Moon

The Wish Wind

WolfStar

Women of the Struggle: Portraits and Testimony of Native American Women

Word Up! Hope for Youth Poetry

The World of Manabozho: Tales of the Chippewa Indians

The Worry Stone

Wounded Knee

Writing as Witness

The Year of Miss Agnes

Yonder Mountains: A Cherokee Legend

Yudonsi: A Tale from the Canyons

A Zuni Artist Looks at Frank Hamilton Cushing

Zuni Breadstuff

Zuni Children and Elders Talk Together

The Zunis: Self-Portrayals

Notes on O'Dell's THUNDER ROLLING IN THE MOUNTAINS

Over the last few years I've had several questions from parents and teachers about Scott O'Dell's Thunder Rolling in the Mountains. Today (June 20th, 2023) I am going to start reading it and making notes as I do. 

Update on Thursday June 29th at 8:30 AM: I've now read up to chapter ten and strongly recommend it not be used in classrooms. I think the curriculum companies that include it should revisit their decision to include it. It does not educate students. 

I think it originally came out from Houghton Mifflin in 1992. O'Dell is listed as the first author. The second author is Elizabeth Hall. He died in 1989. He was married to Hall. The "Foreword" is by Hall. She writes that

A few years earlier we had followed the trail taken in 1877 by Chief Joseph and his valiant band [...]. From that trip, from the recollections of Nez Perce and U.S. Army personnel, from the writings of historians, and from Scott's instructions and musings about the story, I have completed the manuscript as Scott had asked me to do. Most of the characters are based on actual Nez Perce, and most of their words and deeds are drawn from recollections of survivors."

She writes that these sources are essential to the book:

• Two eyewitness accounts compiled by Lucullus V. McWhorter: Yellow Wolf: His Own Story (the recollections of Chief Joseph's nephew) and Hear Me, My Chiefs! (based on eyewitness accounts of both sides)
• Chief Joseph's Own Story told on his trip to Washington DC in 1897

She writes that these books were helpful:

• Merrill Beal's "I Will Fight No More Forever": Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War
• Helen Addison Howard's Saga of Chief Joseph
• Arthur Josephy Jr.'s The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest

I'm glad that she includes her sources. But, questions I pose as I read that info:

• Who is Lucullus V. McWhorter? It sounds like he spoke with a Nez Perce person. When did that happen? Did the Nez Perce person speak English? Did McWhorter speak Nimipuutimt (the language the Nez Perce people speak). If the answer to those questions is no, there was likely a translator. 
• Hall says they used Chief Joseph's Own Story as a key source. The subtitle for that source is "Told by him on his trip to Washington, D.C., in 1897*". The footnote for the asterisk says "Chief Joseph's story is presented here not as a matter of historic record or as evidence in the controversy over the facts in connection with the treaty of 1855, but to give an impression of the man." Who wrote that footnote? When I look for information about that account and footnote, what will I find? (Also noting here that the second paragraph of his account says his name is "In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder-traveling-over-the-mountains)." Very close to the O'dell/Hall book title, isn't it? 

The copyright page in the book has this summary:

In the late nineteenth century, a young Nez Perce girl relates how her people were driven off their land by the U.S. Army and forced to retreat north until their eventual surrender.

Questions I pose as I read the summary:

• How does O'Dell (a white man born in 1898) know what a Nez Perce girl of a different gender, era (1800s), and language thinks, feels, and says? 

Now, my notes on chapter one (summary in plain font; my thoughts in italics):

• O'Dell/Hall use "we" and "I" for their characters. We are meant to read the book as if the characters the authors create are Native and giving us an insider point of view.   
• O'Dell/Hall use "for many moons" and "three suns" and "six snows ago." I see those references to the passing of time in books written by writers that are not Native. It may sound Native, but is it? 
• The primary character in this chapter is 14-year-old "Sound of Running Feet." She's in the lead of a group of seven that are on an outing to dig roots. She has a rifle that belonged to her grandfather "Old Joseph." As he lay dying, he gifted it to her, to become hers when she became a woman at the age of 14. That happened three months prior to the outing. They see a cabin with smoke rising from the chimney. When another character asks Sound of Running Feet what it is, he says "White people. [...] Indians do not build cabins." Would a Nez Perce person of that time period use the word "Indians"? They might say that Native peoples don't build cabins because they are not aware of those that do build permanent structures. 
• Sound of Running Feet learned (quickly) how to use the rifle. Her father doesn't like it but she thinks it would "be bad to speak against the gift now that Old Joseph was dead. He could come back and make trouble." With that, O'Dell/Hall are telling us something about how Nez Perce people feel about death and gifts. What is their source for that? 
• At the cabin they see a man and woman in the stream. She has a copper pan that the man fills with dirt brought to him by a "boy of our people." They are panning for gold. 
• The man speaks to them. The Nez Perce boy translates, telling them that the man wants to know how they are. Sound of Running Feet does not answer that question. Instead she asks why the white man has built a cabin on land that doesn't belong to him. At first glance it seems cool to ask the question about the land. This is definitely a character who is familiar with fights for land. 
• Sound of Running Feet knows that the boy had gone to a mission school at Lapwai, that his name is Storm Cloud, and that he was mixed up in a murder. He tells the white man what Sound of Running Feet asked about the land. and he replies that the Nez Perce own too much land, that they can't use it all, and that they're greedy. He says his name is Jason Upright and that they better not send Nez Perce warriors to talk to him. The group leaves without replying but at a distance, Sound of Running Feet shoots at and blows a hole in the pan the man and woman are using. They went on home. I'm intrigued. Does the boy's past at the mission school mean he's working for the white man as punishment? What was the murder? Obviously the bit about Nez Perce being greedy is ridiculous. 

[Pausing to hit 'publish' on my notes thus far. These are rough notes. There's likely typos and lack of clarity. I'll be back to add more notes later, when I read chapter 2. I invite your thoughts to what I'm sharing.]

-----

Back on Sunday, June 25th to add notes. I did a quick re-read of chapter one and am noting a paragraph in there that I did not note above. It occurs just after the group sees the cabin and the white people there. Sound of Running Feet remembers hearing "our chieftains" talking about white people. They (the white people) had only set foot on land that belonged to people in the tribe who "called themselves Christians, those who had sold their land to the Big Father..." I don't recall "Big Father" in other works. Generally, writers use "Great Father" to refer to the president of the U.S.  "Great Father" is seen in books like Peter Pan. Sometime I want to trace down the first use of that phrase. That these Nez Perce individuals who became Christians were able to sell their land tells us that the Nez Perce had gone through allotment. Allotment of their land began in 1889. 

More on "Great Father." Immediately following the dedication in a book called The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians" written by Francis Paul Prucha, there's a set of quotes that have that term. The oldest one is "When your Great Father and his chiefs see those things, they will know that you have opened your ears to your Great Father's voice, and have come to hear his good Councils. It is attributed to Lewis and Clark, in presenting American flags and medals to Oto chiefs in 1804. 

My notes and comments (in italics) on chapter two:

• In the opening paragraphs, Sound of Running Feet tells her father about the white people they saw at the cabin. He tells her more are on the way. In her narrative, she tells us that he talks to her because he has no sons and that unlike other girls in the village. In Island of the Blue Dolphins, O'Dell created a female character that is "unlike" others. He's doing it here, too, as if he's championing feminism. But does that work? It does for white culture but does it for Native cultures? 
• She replies, angrily, and uses "Here we stand." and that they will "stand and fight." Both of those are similar to remarks widely attributed to Chief Joseph, delivered by him on Oct 5, 1877: "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." Why is O'Dell using them here, as dialog for Sound of Running Feet? 
• The text says that her father, Joseph, is son of Old Joseph, who was an "honored Chieftain of the Ne-mee-poo. He was their chieftain because he could see far away into the land of the suns and moons that had not yet risen." She thinks he was a kind and gentle man who was "too kind" with the whites and "was not a warrior." O'Dell seems to be asking the reader to think of her as tough, tougher than her grandfather. Why didn't she refer to him as her grandfather? 
• "The sun was dying." That sentence is used to indicate sundown. Did the Nez Perce think the sun was dying? Did O'Dell use that directly from a source or is it his construction?
• There are several real people in this chapter. One is U.S. General Howard; the others are Nez Perce men. O'Dell has them all speaking to each other. Is there evidence that they said those words? Here's what O'Dell has Two Moons saying to his son, Swan Necklace: "Listen, idler of all the hills and valleys and meadows in this realm of the living," he said, "Listen to me." "Death stalks the Land of the Wandering Waters." When I do a search on that last sentence, the only return is to O'Dell's book. 

Back on June 26: 

My notes and comments (in italics) on chapter three:

• When General Howard went to Chief Joseph to tell him to leave Wallowa, Chief Joseph tells him that when he was "ten snows" he climbed a mountain, made a bed on a stone, and had no water or food. He "put a pebble in my nose and a pebble in each ear to keep me awake." After "five suns" his "guardian spirit" appeared and gave him his name, "Thunder Rolling in the Mountains." That name, he says, binds him forever to the land. O'Dell is describing what he wants us to read as a Nez Perce ritual. What is his source for it? 
• Howard doesn't care about how Chief Joseph feels about the land. They have to leave "before thirty suns come and go." Another Nez Perce man (Too-hul-hul-sote) tells Howard that "the Spirit Chief" made everything and asks who is "this man" who tells them they have to leave.  Chief Joseph asks for more time because the Snake River is flooding and they would die crossing it. Howard says he will send soldiers with guns to drive them out, and Chief Joseph says they will go. Sound of Running Feet knows some of the Nez Perce men will not go and thinks she agrees with them. 

My Notes and comments (in italics) on chapter four:

• Chief Joseph speaks to his people, telling them they must leave. In part, he says "Some among us, the young warriors, will say to you, 'Do not leave. Do not flee like old women. Fight. We shall live here in peace.'" That line -- 'do not flee like old women' -- bothers me. O'Dell wants us to think old women are cowards. What is his source for that characterization? 
• Chief Joseph tells them they are outgunned and outnumbered and have to leave in "ten suns." He tells them to make bundles of things they value. Sound of Running Feet looks at Springtime (her mother), who is pregnant. 
• Sound of Running Feet goes to Swan Necklace (the two are supposed to get married; the passage includes details on who gave what to whom). "You have heard Chief Joseph speak. Where do you stand?" He is a painter. His father, Two Moons, does not think that is a worthwhile occupation. He belittles him. During the visit from Howard, Two Moons made Swan Necklace hold the horses of two of the younger warriors (Red Moccasin Tops and Wah-lit-its). His father thinks it there is a war to be fought and it is not good for them to be married until after the war. Sound of Running Feet gives Swan Necklace her rifle and bullets. A lot of historical fiction has scenes where a marriage is planned. One family has to give the other items like horses and blankets. What is the source for that? 

Back on Wednesday, June 28, to add more notes:

My Notes and comments (in italics) on chapter five: 

• In the second paragraph, Sound of Running Feet gives a physical description of Ollokot: "He was very tall and had his hair cut in a roach that stuck up and made him look like a giant." Earlier in the book she talks about her father's braids. Physical descriptions like these are awkward. Or perhaps what I mean is that outsiders (like Scott O'Dell) who are writing as if they are insiders focus on things that they think matter. But, do they matter to the insiders? And are they accurate? The mostly-available photographs of these two men show them in a certain way but did they look that way all the time? It strikes me as a rather exotifying and reductionist move from O'Dell.  
• In this chapter, Too-hul-hul-sote is angry about being made to leave their land. He shouts "Our Great Spirit Chief made the world," he said. "He put me here on this piece of earth. This earth is my mother. You tell me to live like the white man and plow the land. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom? You tell me to cut the grass and make hay. But dare I cut off my mother's hair?" There's a couple more sentences after that. As I started reading that passage, I thought that it sounds a bit (or a lot) like an as-told-to construction or interpretation of something a Native person said that a white person embellished. I did a quick search and was quite surprised to find "Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom" as something said by someone else entirely. I see it attributed to Wovoka (who was Paiute) and to Smohalla (who was Wanapum). I kept looking and found the following two quotes in Josephy's book, The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest. Josephy is one of O'Dell and Hall's sources (as noted above)! These two quotes open Joseph's book:

"The earth is part of my body . . . I belong to the land out of which I came. The Earth is my mother." --TOOHOOLHOOLZOTE, THE NEZ PERCE 

"You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest. You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again. You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men! But how dare I cut off my mother's hair?" --SMOHALLA, NORTHWEST INDIAN RELIGIOUS TEACHER

 There's a lot to dig into but at this moment I think a teacher would be doing a tremendous disservice as an educator, if she uses Thunder Rolling in the Mountains! To me, it looks like O'Dell and/or Hall erred completely in taking that "Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom" and attributing it to Too-hul-hul-sote. 

Back on Thursday, June 29th (at 8:30 AM) with more notes:

I read chapter six but am not noting any passages in it. Here, then, is chapter seven:

• Chief Joseph and his group are leaving their homeland but are also having fights with soldiers. They're leaving White Bird Canyon and thirty-four white soldiers, dead. Sound of Running Feet makes "a doll for my baby sister with a piece of a soldier's shirt." and "My small cousin had a pair of soldier's heavy boots and asked me to cut off their tops and make a purse out of them." That sounds to me like trophy-taking associated with soldiers--not children.
• As they ride, White Feather, a girl one year older than Sound of Running Feet asks her if she is pleased. "The warriors have won and your father has lost." Sound of Running Feet replies that she is pleased and that if the soldiers follow, "we will beat them again." When Swan Necklace tells her about soldiers dropping their guns and running for their lives, she claps her hands with joy. This defiance and joy are rubbing me the wrong way.   

In chapter nine, Sound of Running Feet thinks that if the war is over, she'll be able to marry Swan Necklace. As they ride she takes care of the children in the group, and tells them stories about Coyote, "the trickster with magic powers." Her story is about how Coyote created the tribes. Hmmm... a creation story. Will I find that in a source? 

On to chapter ten:

• Chief Joseph and his group have had several fights with soldiers. Many of the soldiers have been killed. Swan Necklace and Sound of Running Feet are talking about the battles. Then, we read this:

"Children made ugly masks of the dead soldiers with eyes hanging down on their cheeks and pieces of ear cut off. They dug holes and buried the masks deep and laughed and hummed secret songs that they made up." Pretty grotesque, isn't it? Did that happen?! How the heck does a teacher work with that passage?! How does it impact Native kids? How does it impact non-Native kids? 

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Thursday, June 29, 4:12 PM -- my final set of notes:

I'm not making detailed notes by chapter at this point. I'm tired of the recurring not-Native phrases and oddities like the constance references to Canada as "the Old Lady's country." I did a quick search on that and all hits go to O'Dell and teaching materials about the book. Another redundant phrase is "fight no more" or a variant of it. O'Dell made a real person -- Chief Joseph's daughter -- into the main character in his book. She looks down on her father throughout the book. Did she, in fact, feel that way about her father? From what I've found so far, there's no support for creating her with that disposition. 

In chapter 19 is the "Hear me, my chiefs" speech that is widely attributed to Chief Joseph. Just before it appears, O'Dell writes that Chief Joseph walks to his pony and gets his rifle. General Howard reaches for it, but Chief Joseph pulled it back and said he was not surrendering to Howard. Instead, he was surrendering to Colonel Miles because "This is the man that ran me down." The last sentences of the speech are:

"Hear me, my chiefs," he called. "I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

Then, O'Dell writes, warriors stepped forward and laid their rifles on the ground in front of the generals, and women and children came forward and stood with the men. Sound of Running Feet, however, "could not join them." A small group slipped away for "the Old Lady's country" and she's decided to go with them. Swan Necklace is among them. Most of the remaining chapters are about battles and deaths and trying to get away from soldiers to what they think is safety in Sitting Bull's camp. In the final chapters, Sound of Running feet is married off to an Assiniboine man but runs away. She imagines killing him with her rifle but doesn't. In an afterword, O'Dell and Hall say that she made her way to Sitting Bull's camp and stayed there for a year before returning to Lapwai where she took the name Sarah and married George Moses, a Nimipu man (Nimipu is the name the Nez Perce use for themselves). She never saw her father again. He and the group that was with him were taken to Oklahoma and later returned to Lapwai if they agreed to become Christians. Chief Joseph refused and was taken to eastern Washington, to the Colville Reservation where he died in 1904.

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Those are my notes. I'll study them and in some instances, do some research to verify what O'Dell and Hall wrote in their book. Then, I'll do a more formal review. I think it may take the form of an open letter to educators, including the individuals at Great Minds Ed, who produce the Wit and Wisdom curriculum. Thunder Rolling in the Mountains is part of their curriculum.