Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender

by S. D. Nelson

Overview

An illuminating picture book biography of the Lakota warrior and chief Red Cloud, from award-winning author and illustrator S. D. Nelson.

Red Cloud (1822–1909) was a great warrior and chief of the Lakota. Told from his perspective, Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender describes the events that brought him to prominence as a leader of his people and how he came to surrender them to the wasichus (White Man), ending their way of life on the Great Plains.

From the intrusion of white settlers into Lakota territory, to the treaties signed with the US government, and to the many subsequent battles, Red Cloud explains how the Lakota became the only nation to win a war against the US Army on American soil. However, unlike fellow warriors Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, Red Cloud eventually came to accept the inevitable advance of white civilization. He submitted to change and moved his followers onto a reservation. The story concludes with Red Cloud’s trip to the East Coast, where he visited New York City and met President Ulysses S. Grant.

Award-winning author and member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe S. D. Nelson reinterprets the 19th-century Lakota ledger-art style to give authenticity to the story as he brings to light one of the most controversial members of the Lakota tribe, Red Cloud. Backmatter includes a timeline.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419723131
Publisher:	Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/14/2017
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	862,340
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD880L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

S. D. Nelson is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the Dakotas. He is the award-winning author and illustrator of a number of books, including Crazy Horse and Custer, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Black Elk’s Vision (winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Storyteller Award and named a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best), and many more. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Editorial Reviews

**STARRED REVIEW**
"The story, at once inspiring and sad, is expanded and enriched by Nelson’s beautiful ink, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations executed in the nineteenth-century Lakota ledger-book style...The result is an excellent volume for both independent reading and classroom use."

Booklist

"This book's vibrant art is inspired by historical Plains ledger art; the sketches, colored pencil and bright watercolor washes, stand out against the ledger lines...One of the strongest elements of the book is its focus on treaties as symbols of nation-to-nation relationships."

The Horn Book

**STARRED REVIEW**
"The story, at once inspiring and sad, is expanded and enriched by Nelson’s beautiful ink, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations executed in the nineteenth-century Lakota ledger-book style...The result is an excellent volume for both independent reading and classroom use."
—Booklist

**STARRED REVIEW**
"An impressive amount of information movingly and handsomely conveyed."—Kirkus

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Nelson, author of numerous award-winning books...has once again carefully researched, documented, and crafted a nuanced and valuable work of history.... Readers will appreciate this complex look at Chief Red Cloud."—School Library Journal

"This book's vibrant art is inspired by historical Plains ledger art; the sketches, colored pencil and bright watercolor washes, stand out against the ledger lines...One of the strongest elements of the book is its focus on treaties as symbols of nation-to-nation relationships."—The Horn Book

From the Publisher

**STARRED REVIEW**
"The story, at once inspiring and sad, is expanded and enriched by Nelson’s beautiful ink, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations executed in the nineteenth-century Lakota ledger-book style...The result is an excellent volume for both independent reading and classroom use."

Booklist

★ 05/01/2017
Gr 4–6—Chief Red Cloud (1822–1909) is known as an Oglala Lakota leader who acquiesced to the demands of United States and entered into a treaty despite opposition from other Lakota leaders. The treaty forever changed the lifestyle of the Lakota and forced them to relinquish their freedom, homelands, and indigenous ways of being to live on a reservation. The story is told in the first person from Chief Red Cloud's perspective. The text successfully explains what happened on both sides and why Red Cloud took a controversial stance in opposition to other leaders such as Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Nelson, author of numerous award-winning books, including Sitting Bull: Warrior and Defender of His People, has once again carefully researched, documented, and crafted a nuanced and valuable work of history. Though Red Cloud's story has been told many times before, students will not want to miss out on Nelson's take. The graphics are a combination of 19th-century Lakota ledger art and digitally enhanced sepia-toned period photos. VERDICT Readers will appreciate this complex look at Chief Red Cloud, who under duress, unimaginable trauma, and starvation made a difficult choice. A first purchase for school and public libraries.—Naomi Caldwell, Alabama State University, Montgomery

School Library Journal

★ 2017-03-29
The Oglala Lakota chief Red Cloud saw the disintegration of resistance against the United States Cavalry on the Great Plains at the end of the 19th century. Nelson, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux, explores in the first-person voice of Red Cloud a pivotal series of events in the United States' relations with Native American nations. Nelson's ink, watercolor, and colored pencil drawings, done in the style of late-19th-century ledger art, accompany the compact, clear text. His lively illustrations tell the story while interspersed archival photographs offer small windows through the camera's eye. Red Cloud was both a gifted military strategist and a pragmatic leader. Nelson covers three treaties signed at Fort Laramie securing U.S. interests such as safe passage for white settlers and access to mineral rights. Red Cloud was a reluctant signatory only to the last, a short-lived treaty that established a vast, separate Sioux reservation. Nelson acknowledges the violent nature of war, describing both the Sand Creek Massacre, "bluecoats…brandishing the scalps, severed fingers, and other body parts of the slain innocents," and skirmishes during Red Cloud's campaign during which "with angry hearts we scalped [U.S. soldiers] and cut off their arms and legs." Well-organized backmatter provides a timeline, extensive sources, and notes along with an author's summary for older readers. An impressive amount of information movingly and handsomely conveyed. (Biography. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews