This book is told from Red Cloud's point of view, this story covers the rise of Red Cloud to leadership of the Lakota people and his eventual surrender. The format creates a high interest with details about many battles and relationships with other Native Americans. Authentic photographs are present throughout the book. This book has a timeline, author's note, endnotes, a bibliography, image credits, and an index. ( )

Authentic illustrations, period photographs, and primary source documents accompany the narrative of Red Cloud, the Oglala chief, as he navigates war, westward expansion, treaties, and, eventually, moving to a reservation to preserve his people. Includes Timeline, Author’s Note, Bibliography, Index

Lakota artist and children's book author S.D. Nelson, whose previous forays into the world of picture-book biography include Black Elk's Vision: A Lakota Story and Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People, returns to the form here, telling the story of Makhpiya-luta, or Red Cloud. A Lakota warrior and eventual war chief, Red Cloud fought against the encroachment of Euro-American settlers on his land, leading and organizing a series of attacks from 1866 through 1868 that came to be known as Red Cloud's War. Eventually realizing the futility of the conflict, and the suffering it was causing his people, he signed a treaty with the U.S. government in 1868. He lived the rest of his days on a reservation, although he traveled east to Washington, D.C. at one point. He died in 1909, having converted to Catholicism. Like his other titles in this vein, Nelson's book concludes with a detailed timeline, an author's note, a list of sources, a bibliography and an index...

I found Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender both informative and engaging, and I thought Nelson's illustrations, done in ink, watercolor and colored pencil on ledger paper, were beautiful. I did think that the narrative here, although told from Red Cloud's perspective, was somewhat less immediate than in titles like Black Elk's Vision: A Lakota Story and Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People, where more of the subject's childhood and personal life was explored. Here the focus seemed almost exclusively upon the historical developments, which were labelled and dated in the text, with sections having titles such as "1855 - The Pipe Dance," or "1868 - Third Fort Laramie Treaty." Still, I do think Nelson captures Red Cloud's sense of responsibility to his people, even if other leaders, such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, considered him a traitor for his actions in signing the treaty, and ceasing hostilities. I continue to be impressed by Nelson's storytelling, and by his illustrations, and look forward to his latest effort, Crazy Horse and Custer: Born Enemies, due out later this year.

Although a picture-book, this one is far too advanced in text and subject matter for very young children, and would be more suitable for upper primary and middle-school pupils, who are interested in the history of the American West, the conflicts between Euro-American settlers and Native American nations, and the life story of Red Cloud. ( )

Written in the voice of Red Cloud (Makhpiya-luta), this short book tells the story of the struggles of the Lakota and other Plains tribes to maintain their freedom and their way of life in the face of the relentless and violent western expansion of the United States. In particular, it puts into context Red Cloud's choice to lead the Oglala to settle on reservations rather than continue to fight the US Army.

The illustrations lost some of their impact in the ebook format. ( )

nonfiction- partial biography

This book is about a leader among the Lakota, who during the 1860s, Chief Red Cloud deeply opposed white expansion into Native American territory. He rejected treaties from the U.S. 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.

I chose this book because it shoes the struggles this tribe went through. I think learning about this time in history is both so interesting and sad at the same time. I think this book gave a good insight into the war without being to gruesome, since this is a younger elementary book. ( )