A Boy Called Slow: The True Story of Sitting Bull

by Joseph Bruchac

Book Overview

The True Story of Sitting Bull from multi-award-winning author Joseph Bruchac.

Anxious to be given a name as strong and brave as that of his father, a proud Lakota Sioux grows into manhood, acting with careful deliberation, determination, and bravery, which eventually earned him his proud new name: Sitting Bull.

An ALA Notable Book

"Being named Slow and growing up in the shadow of a great warrior hardly dwarfed the prospects of this protagonist: he grew up to be Sitting Bull. Bruchac's sensitively told story of Sitting Bull's coming-of-age reassures young boys that success comes through effort, not birth." --Booklist

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 069811616X
• ISBN13: 9780698116160
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 7.8" x 10.2"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Not good Indigenous Representation

Joseph Bruchac is not a recommended author, though he once was. Please check out Debbie Reese's Blog American Indians in Children's Literature for recommended authors.

A Boy Called Slow was a wonderful book.

Your kids would love this book, I shared this book with my students they all enjoyed it very much. It's a true story, about Sitting Bull, he is one of my Heros. I do recommend it very highly.

Great Book!

My class is studying Native American literature right now. This story was used as a read aloud and they absolutely loved it!!! Kept them engaged the whole time.

Entirely respectful, explicitly readable

Please bear with me as I explain something. When I was an undergraduate in college I did an art project that looked at photographs and their titles. I was interested in the ways in which people will completely reassess their interpretation of a piece of art when they read its title. Many times, a person will completely bypass the art itself so as to see the title and be told what to think. In much the same way, I almost immediately flipped to the back cover of this book to read information about the author. It was as if I had to confirm or deny my suspicions before they'd even formed. As it happens, I was pleased to read that Joseph Bruchac was a Native American storyteller. Would I have enjoyed this books as much as I did had I not read this? I don't know. In any case, the book is lovely. The text is respectful and unhurried, choosing to develop the characters before launching into action. It does not revert to any cliches that I could discover, and the drawings are superb. They are sometimes dreamlike, sometimes evocative shots of people going about their lives, and sometimes tent drawings. I know that some have complained that this book has a bit of a *gotcha* ending, and I have to admit that I agree. It's a surprise ending that comes as no surprise at all. Nonetheless, the story tells well and I would unequivocally recommend it for storytelling to kids. It would pair well with other stories of great Native American heroes.

Cool!

When I first opened this book I had no clue the boy called slow was Sitting Bull. When I realized that after reading a few pages, I thought wow! That is so neat. I learned so much about the indian culture and how they came up with their names. I like this book a lot. I'm going to keep it for my children to read when I get older.

great book to use in class

this is a great book to use in class for a biography lesson on sitting bull. it's also a great way to explore american indian naming practices.

Great For Middle School

I used this book in my 5th grade class as part of our study of Native America. It was very popular with my students, and many of them reread it after I had read it aloud. The class learned new facts from the story and new vocabulary form the pictures.