“I remember the day I lost my spirit.” So begins the story of Gertrude Simmons, also known as Zitkala-Sa, which means Red Bird. Born in 1876 on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota, Zitkala-Sa willingly left her home at age eight to go to a boarding school in Indiana. But she soon found herself caught between two worlds–white and Native American.
At school she missed her mother and her traditional life, but Zitkala-Sa found joy in music classes. “My wounded spirit soared like a bird as I practiced the piano and violin,” she wrote. Her talent grew, and when she graduated, she became a music teacher, composer, and performer.
Zitkala-Sa found she could also “sing” to help her people by writing stories and giving speeches. As an adult, she worked as an activist for Native American rights, seeking to build a bridge between cultures.
The coauthors tell Zitkala-Sa’s life by weaving together pieces from her own stories. The artist’s acrylic illustrations and collages of photos and primary source documents round out the vivid portrait of Zitkala-Sa, a frightened child whose spirit “would rise again, stronger and wiser for the wounds it had suffered.”
Author: Gina Capaldi, Q. L. Pearce
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (R)
Published: 08/06/2019
Pages: 32
Weight: 0.3lbs
Size: 9.50h x 9.30w x 0.10d
ISBN: 9781541578364
Language: English
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