S. D Nelson

Lakota chief Crazy Horse and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer had long been enemies when they finally crossed paths for the last time in 1876, as the people of the Great Plains resisted the invasion of their homes. Witness reports and reflections by their peers accompany side-by-side storytelling, revealing different perspectives on the historical events during their intertwined lives.

A leader among the Lakota during the 1860s, Chief Red Cloud deeply opposed white expansion into Native American territory. He rejected treaties from the United States government and instead united the warriors of the Lakota and nearby tribes, becoming the only Native American to win a war against the U.S. Army. Despite his military successes, Red Cloud recognized that continued conflict would only bring destruction to his people. He made the controversial...

A fictional tale, drawn to typify a child miner's work experience at the turn of the last century.

Traces the childhood, friendships and dangers experienced by Buffalo Bird Woman, a Hidatsa Indian born in 1839, whose community along the Missouri River in the Dakotas transitioned from hunting to agriculture.

Pickup trucks and eagles, yellow school buses and painted horses, Mother Earth and Sister Meadowlark all join together to greet the dawn. They marvel at the colors and sounds, smells, and memories that come with the opening of the day. Animals and humans alike turn their faces upwards and gaze as the sun makes its daily journey from horizon to horizon. Dawn is a time to celebrate with a smiling heart, to start a new day in the right way, excited for...

A biography of Native American athlete Jim Thorpe, focusing on how his boyhood education set the stage for his athletic achievements which gained him international fame and Olympic gold medals. Author's note details Thorpe's life after college.

"Billy Mills was once an orphan on the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation. But before his father was called to the ancestors, he told Billy how to conquer his suffering: You have broken wings son. You have to dig deeper, below the anger, the hurt, the self-pity. The pursuit of a dream will heal you. Despite poverty, racism, and severe health challenges, Billy raced toward his goal of becoming an Olympic athlete, inspired by his Indigenous ancestors...