Doesn't Fall Off His Horse

Book excerpt: This magnificent true story offers a rare-and breathtaking-look into the life of a Kiowa boy at the end of the nineteenth century. The story is told by a very old man to his youngest great-granddaughter, Saygee, as he shows her one of his treasures: a leopard skin quiver, obtained at great price from the white traders. But there was one time when the quiver could not help him-the time he participated in a daring raid on an enemy tribe. And so begins the narrative of a dangerous, yet thrilling adventure that will transport young readers back in time to the Oklahoma Territory of the 1890's. The sense of camp life among the tepees of the Kiowa village and the feel of a breathless escape on horseback over the prairie are evoked in Virginia A. Stroud's vivid prose and jewel-like art. A multiple-award-winning Cherokee artist, Virginia A. Stroud now turns her impressive talents to the story of her adoptive Kiowa grandfather-who, like Saygee's grandpa, paid dearly and road bravely to earn his warrior name.