A yellow bird chirped loudly just above the sleeping boy Indian. It made so much noise he opened his eyes and looked about. The next moment he saw the reason. A big grizzly bear was coming toward the tree under which he lay!

"Ill jump up and run," he thought. "No, I can't do that. A grizzly can run faster than a man. I'll have to play dead, as hunters do."

Presently he smelled a strong odor and knew the bear was over him. Then he heard it sniffing at his face and body. He hardly dared to breathe....

The meeting with the grizzly is only one of the many adventures in the life of young Sitting Bull. As a boy of the Hunkpapa tribe of the Sioux Indians, he grew up in the Dakota country in the 1840's. During most of this story Sitting Bull is known as Jumping Badger, for he did not receive his now famous name until he was twelve and had proved his courage by spending two days and two nights alone on the plains.

Indian boys have to learn many things when they are very young, for life in the Dakota country is not easy. Jumping Badger has a hard beginning because he must overcome a nickname, "Slowpoke," given him by the sons of an enemy of his father's. But he is determined that he will not be slow. He proves that he can think just as quickly and run just as fast as any of the Sioux boys. Often he is even better.

Jumping Badger's tribe must struggle against many enemies—hunger, wild life, unfriendly Indians. They have to follow the buffalo herds and kill enough animals to provide meat to last through the year. Jumping Badger and other boys his age have important work to do in the camp during a buffalo hunt. Even grasshoppers are dangerous, for they can come in swarms and destroy a whole village. Warriors of the Crow tribe steal horses from the Sioux, and Jumping Badger plays an important part in getting the horses back.

To combat all these enemies Jumping Badger must acquire great skill in riding, hunting, and shooting. He develops the qualities of courage and endurance which are so valuable in his adult life when he must lead the Sioux against the white settlers who are invading the Sioux hunting grounds, and against the soldiers sent to protect the whites.

As a chief, Sitting Bull became famous when he led the Sioux tribes against the "last stand" of General Custer's cavalry, at the Little Big Horn River.

Augusta Stevenson has many times proved her exceptional ability to write exciting and popular stories for the Childhood of Famous Americans series. Sitting Bull: Dakota Boy is her twenty-first book for this series and is sure to appeal to her large juvenile audience.

From the dust jacket