An Indian Winter - Softcover

Russell Freedman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590480707 ISBN 13: 9780590480703

Publisher: Scholastic Inc., 1994

Synopsis

Relates the experiences of a German prince, his servant, and a young Swiss artist as they traveled through the Missouri River Valley in 1833 learning about the territory and its inhabitants and recording their impressions in words and pictures.

About this title

About the Author

Russell Freedman received the Newbery Medal for LINCOLN: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY. He is also the recipient of three Newbery Honors, a National Humanities Medal, the Sibert Medal, the Orbis Pictus Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and was selected to give the 2006 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. Mr. Freedman lives in New York City and travels widely to research his books.

Reviews

Grade 4 Up-- In 1833-34, Maximilian, a German prince, and Karl Bodmer, a Swiss artist, travelled by river to what is today North Dakota. There they wintered with the Mandan and Hidatsa, fascinating and flourishing peoples who would be all but exterminated in the 1837 smallpox epidemic. Drawing expertly on his own knowledge and on Maximilian's own detailed account, Freedman tells the story of the Europeans' adventure against the background of the Indians' culture. In a simple but assured style, he conveys copious information effortlessly in the course of a compelling narrative. His ability to bring the Mandan and Hidatsa vividly to life is rendered especially poignant by his final description of their passing. The superb, limpid prose alone would make this book a winner, but the outstanding illustrations guarantee its irresistibility. Bodmer was a competent draughtsman but a master of figure studies. The Mandan were stylish dressers, and Bodmer delighted in depicting them in ceremonial regalia. Unforgettable, bright watercolor portraits punctuate genre scenes of domestic life and landscapes delineating the villages, river, fort, etc. It is hard to imagine a more appealing tribute to the best of two cultures: Native American integrity and European intrepidity. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1833, a German prince, Maximilian of Wied (1782-1867), hired the young Swiss artist Karl Bodmer (1809-93) and set out with him to study Native Americans. They wintered with the Mandans in what is now North Dakota; Maximilian spent the next four years editing his extensive journals, producing a book illustrated with engravings that Bodmer made from his own paintings (which were then sent to Wied, where they stayed until 1962; they're now in a museum in Omaha). Quoting extensively from Maximilian's account, Freedman describes the journey and, especially, the Mandans and Hidatsas as Maximilian found them: their customs, artifacts, social structure, and the individuals who became their close friends. Bodmer's paintings and sketches- -landscapes, portraits, and active scenes--appear on almost every double spread, occasionally varied with his engravings or other illustrations, e.g., self-portraits by Mandan friends who were interested in Bodmer's technique. The book closes with the Indians' later history (these tribes were devastated by smallpox in 1837) and five ``Places to Visit.'' As he has done so often, most recently in The Wright Brothers (1992 Newbery Honor), Freedman combines a lucid, gracefully written, impeccably authentic text with beautifully chosen historical illustrations in a handsome and fascinating book; the result here is especially compelling because the material will be new to most readers. Another splendid achievement. Bibliography; index. (Nonfiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The Newbery Medalist returns to the subject matter of Indian Chiefs and Buffalo Hunt-though with a narrower scope-in this recounting of the 1833-1834 expedition of Prince Maximilian of Germany and the artist Karl Bodmer up the Missouri River. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590480707
• ISBN 13: 9780590480703
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Karl Bodmer
• Number of pages: 88