At the request of the late Newbery medalist O'Dell ( Island of the Blue Dolphins ), his widow, Hall, collaborated on this story about Sound of Running Feet, the daughter of Chief Joseph of the Ne-mee-po, or Nez Perce Indians. Sound of Running Feet narrates the betrayal of her people, their flight, last battles and final surrender. In typical O'Dell fashion, the novel serves up a generous helping of historical fact and general information about the Ne-mee-po and their way of life. Unfortunately, a formal and reserved tone (``I had loved him for a long time, for as many moons as there were stars'') keep the reader at arm's length from the characters, which in turn does little to amplify or personalize their plight. Readers may find that the novel's choicest parts are those trimmed closest to the factual bone--though topping Chief Joseph's ``Hear me, my chiefs'' speech will prove difficult, this work may encourage youngsters to sample some of its source material. Ages 10-14.
In the late nineteenth century, a young Nez Perce girl relates how her people were driven off their land by the U.S. Army and forced to retreat north until their eventual surrender.
Scott O'Dell, Elizabeth Hall
Dell, 1993 - Juvenile Fiction - 128 pages
It is spring of 1877 when fourteen-year-old Sound of Running Feet, daughter of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, sees white people panning gold in the little creek that feeds the Wallowa River, and brings word of them to her father.
"They are the first, but more are on the way," he says. "We are few and they are many. They will devour us."
It is Sound of Running Feet who narrates the story of her tribe's fate. Readers will be gripped as she shares with us her respect for her father, her love for handsome Swan Necklace, and her destiny.
https://www.novelstudies.org/downloads/Thunder_Rolling_in_the_Mountains_Novel_Study_Preview.pdf
http://www.lawesterners.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/193-FALL-1993.pdf
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