Brave Bird at Wounded Knee

It’s 1973, and in Denver, Colorado, Patsy Antoine doesn’t usually give much thought to her relatives living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. After all, her classmates don’t even know she’s part Lakota. Then she learns the tiny town of Wounded Knee has been occupied. Now Patsy’s relatives are stuck amid the conflict between American Indian Movement activists and Oglala Lakota tribe members on the one side, and federal marshals and FBI agents on the other. When Patsy visits her relatives on Pine Ridge, she learns more about her heritage and the clashing perspectives on the Wounded Knee occupation. As she connects with her roots, Patsy must grapple with the complexities of the conflict and of being biracial. It’s the storytellers that preserve a nation’s history. But what happens when some stories are silenced? The I Am America series features fictional stories based on important historical events about people whose voices have been excluded, lost, or forgotten over time.

Rachel Bithell writes about history, culture, and science for kids and their caregivers. Her writing has been featured in several national magazines. This is her first book. As a foster and adoptive parent and former teacher, she has cared for and taught many children with diverse strengths, interests, backgrounds, and needs. For all these children, storytelling has served her as an invaluable tool for connecting and learning.