THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CRAZY HORSE

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freedman, Russell. 1996. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CRAZY HORSE. Illustrated by Amos Bad Heart Bull. New York:Holiday House. ISBN 0823412199

PLOT SUMMARY
This is a biography about the life, adventures, and death of Crazy Horse. The book starts out by naming the main characters and their role in Crazy Horse's life. Freedman then takes the reader through the life of Crazy Horse, first as a child, then a young adult, then as a grown man, to finally elderly man who dies fighting for what he believed in-that the white people were visitors to this land and had no right to take from the Native Americans what they felt was rightfully theirs.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The criteria that establishes whether or not a book is indeed a biography are accuracy, organization, design, and style. He spent countless hours with the survivors and family members who knew Crazy Horse the best in order to make sure that the facts were accurate, that he quoted Crazy Horse directly, that nothing he wrote was fictionalized, and to show that Crazy Horse was human by illustrating his accomplishments as well as his failures.

When it comes to accuracy Freedman has done his research. One example of this is evidenced when Crazy Horse, known by the name of Curly when he was a child, became "the war party's servant and errand boy, expected to fetch water, tend the horses, do whatever he was told." This facts can be proven because Freedman spoke to many people who knew of Crazy Horse and if their stories had contradicted each other then Freedman and the reader would know that these were myths not facts. Noone that Freedman spoke to told a different spin on the same story.

Freedman does a superb job in organizing the book. The layout is logical and coherent, sequential, patterned, and provides reference aids. The reference aids that Freedman provides are a table of contents, a list of the main characters with a brief description of what they played in Crazy Horse's life, a chronology of the main events in the life of Crazy Horse, maps, and a selective bibliography.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CRAZY HORSE is a book that invites the reader in to learn more abut this fascinating man in America's history. Bull's illustrations add an element of authenticity to Freedman's writing. Bull was the tribal historian for his tribe and the one Crazy Horse belonged to. He had "picture histories of past events, called winter counts. Each winter, each year, was represented by a drawing of some outstanding event. The years were not numbered, but were given names..". Through Bull's illustrations and Freedman's writing a reader can see that each man is/was passionate about his work and now their works are being shared with many avid readers. Some of the interesting concepts and vocabulary that Freedman uses in the book are "boast, scalps, Crazy Horse's unwillingness to have his picture taken." Once when a post surgeon at Camp Robinson, Nebraska tried to persuade Crazy Horse to have his picture taken Crazy Horse said no. "My friend", Crazy Horse would ask him, "why should you wish to shorten my life by taking from me my shadow?"

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CRAZY HORSE was definitely written by the right person. He makes sure that he reports the facts while at the same time humanizing a group of people that have long been misunderstood and forgotten. Not only did he meet with the ancestors of Crazy Horse but he actually while researching this book visited the Black Hills in South Dakota and the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana.

REVIEW EXCERPT
School Library Journal:"written with the attention to detail of a historian and the language of a storyteller."

CONNECTIONS
Some other biographies by Russell Freedman are:
LINCOLN: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY. ISBN 0395518482
KIDS AT WORK: LEWIS HINE AND THE CRUSADE
AGAINST CHILD LABOR. ISBN 0395797268
MARTHA GRAHAM: A DANCER'S LIFE. ISBN 0395746558
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS: HOW THEY INVENTED THE AIRPLANE. ISBN 082341082X. A Newbery Honor book.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: A LIFE OF DISCOVERY. ISBN 0395845203. A Newbery Honor book.

Other ways to extend the book are:
1)Recreate a day in the life of Crazy Horse-for example the incident at Platte Bridge-the student prepares a speech in first person to explain the thought process he, as Crazy Horse, went through to make the decision that he did.
2)Writing as if were Crazy Horse write several letters to Lieutenant Caspar Collins that share your deep thoughts and reveal your personality and rationale for your actions. The letters should also reveal things about the recipient's character as well.