Thunder Over The Prairie

Dora Hand was in a deep sleep. Her bare legs were exposed despite her thick blankets, and a mass of long, auburn hair stretched over her pillow and flowed off the side of her flimsy mattress. A framed, charcoal portrait of an elderly couple hung above her bed on the faded wallpaper and kept company with her slumber. The air outside the window next to the picture was still and cold. The distant sound of voices, back-slapping laughter, profanity, and a piano's tinny, repetitious melody wafted down the main thoroughfare in Dodge City, Kansas, and into the small room. Dodge was an all-night town, "the wickedest little city in America." The streets and saloons were always busy. Residents learned to sleep through the giggling, growling, and gunplay of the cowboys and their paramours for hire. Dora’s dreams were seldom disturbed by the commotion, but the smack of a pair of bullets cutting through the walls of the tiny room cut through the routine nightly noises. The first bullet stuck in the dense plaster partition. The second struck Dora on the right side, just under her arm. There was no time for her to object to the injury; no moment for her to cry out or recoil in pain. In the near distance, a horse squealed and its galloping hooves echoed off the street and faded away. Future legends of the Old West, Charlie Bassett, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, and Bill Tilghman were the lawmen who patrolled the unruly streets. When a cattle baron’s son fled town after the shooting of the popular saloon singer named Dora Hand, the four men--all experts with a gun who knew the harsh, desertlike surrounding terrain--hunted him down like "Thunder Over the Prairie." The posse's ride across the desolate landscape to seek justice influenced the men's friendship, their careers, and their feelings about the justice system. This account of that event is a fast-paced, cinematic glimpse into the Old West that was.

"[These volumes] are endlessly absorbing as an excursion into cultural history and national memory."--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

A brief introduction to the history of the American buffalo and how it was almost hunted to extinction.

It's been two years and middle-school student Danny Wind is still not over his father's death. When his mom marries a white man and they move to a new "white bread" neighborhood, Danny's life changes. The school principal considers him a troublemaker, and he has to avoid Willy, the school bully, who calls him "redskin" and "Tonto." After Danny acts out and gets suspended from school, his mom decides to send him to a summer survival camp for Native American teens. Danny is sure he is in for a boring summer on the reservation, without Internet access even. Instead, he meets other Native kids, learns to ride and care for horses, and develops a relationship with his grandfather, who teaches him the ways of their tribe. And even though life on the reservation is pretty cool, never in his craziest dreams did Danny expect to become involved in rescuing bison in Yellowstone National Park!

Thunder is tired of dealing with bullies at school who pick on him because of his long hair. They don't understand why a boy would grow his hair long. When he is sure he has made up his mind to cut it, his grandmother reminds him of the power of having long hair.