Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story

By S. D. Nelson

Buffalo Bird Girl (ca. 1839-1932) was a member of the Hidatsa, a Native American community that lived in permanent villages along the Missouri River on the Great Plains. Like other girls her age, Buffalo Bird Girl learned the ways of her people through watching and listening, and then by doing. She helped plant crops in the spring, tended the fields through the summer, and in autumn joined in the harvest. She learned to prepare animal skins, dry meat, and perform other duties. There was also time for playing games with friends and training her dog. When her family visited the nearby trading post, there were all sorts of fascinating things to see from the white man’s settlements in the East. Award-winning author and artist S. D. Nelson (Standing Rock Sioux) captures the spirit of Buffalo Bird Girl by interweaving the actual words and stories of Buffalo Bird Woman with his artwork and archival photographs. Backmatter includes a history of the Hidatsa and a timeline.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781613124871

S. D. Nelson

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 Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Black Elk's Vision, which won the Western Writers of America Spur Storyteller Award and was named a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

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Reviews for Buffalo Bird Girl

[nbmars · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Author/illustrator S.D. Nelson is my go-to source for accessible and well-presented background on Native American heroes and culture. Nelson is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the Dakotas. His books are simply not to be missed.The focus of this book is on Buffalo Bird Woman (Waheenee in her native language), born in 1839. (She was called Buffalo Bird Girl as a youth.). She was a member of the Hidatsa, which was united with the Mandan and Arikara people into one tribe living in villages along the Missouri River. In the Author’s Note at the end of this book, Nelson explains that in 1906, Buffalo Bird Woman, concerned that her people’s customs were vanishing and would be forgotten, met with Gilbert Wilson, an anthropologist studying the Plains Indians, and provided him with the details of her life.Nelson draws from her stories to share Hidatsa traditions, focusing on Buffalo Bird Woman’s childhood experiences.When Buffalo Bird Girl was only six, smallpox decimated her people, and she lost her mother, brother, and one of her aunts. Her grandmother and two aunts survived, and they raised her. She goes on to explain, in words partly taken from direct quotes and partly summarized by Nelson, what their house was like, what they ate, and what they did all day. Women did the farming, cooking, and gathering firewood, while the men did the hunting. The children helped out with whatever they could, but also had time for fun and games. There were also occasional celebrations, such as after a successful battle, or after a successful harvest.When winter came, Buffalo Bird Girl’s people moved from the exposed banks of the Missouri River to the wooded lowlands.The U.S. Government contributed to the destruction of the tribes people who had managed to survive the diseases spread to Native Americans. The government passed a series of acts designed to relocate Native Americans onto reservations. They would also take charge of Native provisions and food predicated on tribes adapting to “the white man’s way” (not to mention, predicated on the character of the Government Indian Agent, which was often lacking). This meant giving up their customs, dress, and languages, inter alia. Buffalo Bird Girl and her family went to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. But she did not forget the old ways, and was determined that the memories of them would not be lost. She died in 1932, having successfully collaborated with Wilson in the publication of two books based on her stories.In an afterword, the author explains that in 1934, following the Indian Reorganization Act, the remaining Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara officially united as the Three Affiliated Tribes on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, in North Dakota. All three still exist and remain one sovereign nation.Back matter includes the Author’s Note, a selected timeline of Native Americans, and a bibliography.Like other books on the Native American experience by Nelson, this volume also features not only his pencil drawings and gorgeous acrylic paintings, but relevant photographs when available. Hand-created maps are on the endpapers. Evaluation: The charming stories told by Buffalo Bird Woman in this book for older children along with the outstanding illustrations by Nelson should be a part of every curriculum about life in tribes before their total co-optation by whites hungry for their land and prejudiced against their customs. Nelson’s other books are excellent too, in particular, Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender, reviewed here, and Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People reviewed here.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The childhood of a real Native American girl in the 1840s and 1850s gets a treatment that should appeal to fans of the American Girl or Little House books. Lots of pictures and vintage photos, but maybe too text heavy for younger readers or those with short attention spans. I didn't make the connection until the end matter that she was from one of the tribes mentioned in the Ken Burns Lewis and Clark documentary I watched earlier this year.

[sreinh2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book. It is about Buffalo Bird Girl, Waheenee-nea, who is one of the last Hidatsa people who live the traditional way. I liked how it goes though the girls life story and it tells about all that she has last and all that she has gone through in her life. This book also tells the reader about all the traditional ways of the Hidatsa, so while the reader is reading about Buffalo Bird Girl, they are also learning about the Hidatsa people. What I really liked about the book was the illustrations. This book is illustrated using a combination of paintings, black and white illustrations, and current and vintage photographs. I loved seeing the different pictures of the Hidatsa people while reading about Buffalo Bird Girl.Overall, I really liked reading this book. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about the Hidatsa people while reading it. So if anyone is interested in Native Americans then this would be a good book to read.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An insightful, poignant picture book biography. Beautifully designed and illustrated.