His father had earned the name Returns Again to Strike the Enemy, his uncle Four Horns—good, strong names. But the boy, born many winters ago to the Hunkpapa band of the Lakota Sioux, was called Slow.

Slow knew that until he performed some brave or powerful deed, this was the name by which he would be known. When he reached his seventh winter, he was one of the strongest boys in his tribe. No one was more at ease riding a pony. And as he grew tall, his shoulders became broad and solid. Would the day ever come for him to prove his power? Then one winter, when a group of Lakotas meet a Crow war party, Slow has the chance to earn his new name—the one you may know.

With great drama and poignancy Joseph Bruchac tells the true story about the childhood of the greatest Lakota hero—Sitting Bull. Rocco Baviera's glowing paintings are filled with the energy and knowing of a young boy becoming a man, the energy and knowing that every young person carries on that journey from childhood to beyond.

From the dust jacket