The Buffalo Knife

by William O. Steele

Nine-year-old Andy and his family brave natural and man-made dangers during a perilous thousand-mile raft trip down the Tennessee River.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Adventure

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

William Owen Steele (December 22, 1917 – June 25, 1979) was an American writer from Tennessee.

Reviews

[wally]

this is one of earliest stories i recall reading...2nd grade...mrs burge, our teacher...a gunslinger...she was missing two fingers from one of her hands...a sewing factory accident...

...and...this was a library copy that i read, making that journey down the river...or was it up? indians...all that daniel boone, davey crockett stuff...danger at every turn...overcoming obstacles...hoo-rah.

i recall now another book...one w/a drawing of honest abe on the back....and no recall, me, what story that was...although i did do a tracing of honest abe, shaded in his beard...the big top hat he wore...

all those obstacles...churning water...thiefin indians...bush-whackers and sockdolagers...

life does not change and it doesn't get any better than this

[Diane]

Told from the perspective of an eight-year-old pioneer boy, a story about two families making their way down a river on a log raft to establish a new settlement on the frontier. They pass through rapids and hostile Indian territories. It will give kids an idea of the kinds of things experienced by young pioneers. There are other books by the same author, who was born in 1915 and probably grew up hearing first hand tales of frontier life from his grandparents. And keep in mind, moms, that boys of that time were probably given their first hunting rifles and knives around this boy's age.

[Anthony]

The year is 1872, and nine year old Andrew "Andy" Clark and his family and another family named Brown take a 1,000 mile journey on a flatboat down the Tennessee river in route to French Salt Lick to start a new life. Although Andy wanted to go along the overland trail with his uncle Az for excitement, nothing prepares him for what he encounters along the river. At the end of the journey he compares his adventure with his uncle Az's, and realizes it was worth the memories to ride the flatboat.

[Hannah]

Read this in middle school or high school, long enough ago that I can't remember much about it. I wrote that it was pretty good. I probably picked it up because the library was out of speculative fiction (that I hadn't already read recently). Considering it was outside my preferred genera, and probably paced more of the 50's instead of the 90's, it seems pretty high praise from teenage me.

[Susan]

I think if I were in 3rd or 4th grade, I might like this book better. It's a short historical novel about two families journeying down the Tennessee River on a flatboat in 1782. They meet hostile Indians, terrible rapids, snakes, bears, etc. It's told from a nine-year old boy's point of view.

[Book Wanderer]

I read this for my daughter's library (parent review). It was a good good kids book.

[Denise]

Another great story by William Steele.

[Janice]

As a child I loved this book and all of William O. Steele's. I gave it to my nephew when he was in fourth grade. I then reread it. I loved frontier stories whether they were girl or boy characters.

[Michael Papineau]

The William O Steele books were great reads when I was a kid. Well written and full of adventure.

[Nato]

I liked the adventures and the resourceful way they solved problems.

[Anna]

I didn't find this to be the best book out there. The characters seemed flat and dull and no one changed in the slightest. When Andy and/or Isaac ran off and did something stupid, they hardly ever had to get in trouble. They were only 9 and trusted with way too much.
And this book title didn't make much sense to me. I was expecting there would be a lot more stuff about the buffalo knife but it was only mentioned in the very beginning and very end of the book.
The adventures on the river might be fun for a younger boy for sure, but the title was misleading.

[Helen]

This was an interesting historical book. It told the story of a boy going on a flatboat down a river with his family in 1782. Good combination of historical information with a coming-of-age story.