I wanted so badly for this to be good. Apparently so did the Virginia State Reading Association in selecting it for their annual Readers' Choice event. I know why they picked it. In striving for diverse titles we are woefully short of material on Native Americans. This should have fit the bill. It is authentic (the author is a Native American) and covers "the other side" of history by telling the tale from the side of the Lakota tribes. Unfortunately, Mr. Marshall primarily writes nonfiction for adults and his attempt at writing a fiction tale for youth is predictably strained. The book is a story within a story. The better part of the tale is the inside story. Snapshots of critical moments in the life of Crazy Horse are covered in the style of Native American storytelling. They have an authentic cadence and structure and are compelling. The outside story bogs the whole thing down. The idea is that a Grandfather takes his grandson, Jimmy, on a journey through the various monuments of the upper Midwest, following the path of the famous warrior Crazy Horse. Just when you start getting into the stories there are needless insertions of pointless information, which is often repeated ("Remember, it was very cold"). There are also inaccuracies. The Grandfather points to a "photo of Crazy Horse" which has been proved bogus in recent years. Mr. Marshall wouldn't know this as most of the sources he used in researching the topic are significantly dated. The details of each stop along their route also include so much specificity that we learn things like "the restrooms are in a brick building to the right of the main building". Do we really need to know this? How did this kind of detail contribute to the story? Answer: It didn't. Also problematic was the fake wholesomeness of the relationship. Young Jimmy often says "For reals?" to which Grandfather smiles and says "For reals!" It was so cheesy it made the Andy Griffin Show look like 60 Minutes. We need good stories about our troubled history from the point of view of those whose families and culture were annihilated. This just isn't it. Frankly I find more compelling stories in the 1990s TV show, "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman."
