The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee (Young Readers Adaptation): Life in Native America

by David Treuer, Sheila Keenan (Adapter)

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is a story of Native American resilience and reinvention, adapted for young adults from the adult nonfiction book of the same name.

Since the late 1800s, it has been believed that Native American civilization has been wiped from the United States. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee argues that Native American culture is far from defeated—if anything, it is thriving as much today as it was one hundred years ago.
 
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee looks at Native American culture as it exists today—and the fight to preserve language and traditions. 
 
Adapted for young readers, this important young adult nonfiction book is perfect educational material for children and adults alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Indigenous, Audiobook, Historical, Biography Memoir, American History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 18, 2022

About the author

David Treuer is an Ojibwe Indian from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the NEH, Bush Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He divides his time between his home on the Leech Lake Reservation and Minneapolis. He is the author of three novels and a book of criticism. His essays and stories have appeared in Esquire, TriQuarterly, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Lucky Peach, the LA Times, and Slate.com.

Treuer published his first novel, Little, in 1995. He received his PhD in anthropology and published his second novel, The Hiawatha, in 1999. His third novel The Translation of Dr Apelles and a book of criticism, Native American Fiction; A User's Manual appeared in 2006. The Translation of Dr Apelles was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time Out, and City Pages. REZ LIFE is his newest book and is now out in paperback with Grove Press.

Reviews

[Savannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m having a hard time rating this book. The information provided deserves five stars. But the execution as a book for “young readers” is three stars. I found the beginning of the book fascinating and captivating, and then it slowly tapered off into politics and laws and movements. Not that this is bad at all, but I don’t think many young readers would make it all the way through this book. It's honestly quite boring. The audience is clearly for adults still, which is a shame.

This book also tried to be too many things at once: history textbook, journalism, and memoir. It’s jumbled all together, and I had a hard time understanding how the memoir bits fit into the rest. The stories just didn’t engage me.

Treuer’s goal, as he states, is to paint a less tragic picture of Native life in America, which I’m not sure he achieved. I think he did a great job at going through the detailed history, but he still focused on tragedy. I think sharing less politics and more stories of intimate Native American lives could have helped (and would have connected more with young readers).

All in all, I wanted more story and more emotion for a young readers adaptation. Instead I got a history textbook with bits of memoir and journalism thrown in. This book wasn’t horrible by any means, but I think my expectations were a little too high.

Writing Aesthetic/Style: 3
Content: 5
Inspiration/Value: 3
Overall: 3

Thank you, Penguin Teen and NetGalley, for the ARC!

Trigger/Content Warnings: (all of these are noted, but usually not in great detail) war violence, racism, genocide, abuse, substance abuse, rape, murder

[Dr. Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is the kind of history that needs to be taught in schools. I will definitely be reading the original The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present in the future. I'm glad I started with the YA adaption because it feels like a more accessible way to begin confronting this violent past and present of US history.

CWs: Colonisation, racism, genocide, addiction, alcoholism, death, misogyny, racial slurs, rape, sexual violence, slavery, violence, forced institutionalization, xenophobia, police brutalist, grief, murder, kidnapping, gaslighting, war, deportation, forced removal from native land, poverty. Moderate: gun violence, suicide, cultural appropriation. Minor: sexual assault.

[Tomes And Textiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think high school history universally teaches us that Native American life "ends" at Wounded Knee, however, the hypothesis of David Treuer's The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee not only combats that view of history, but completely obliterates it. I learned so much and realize how much more I have to learn, but if you want to place to start viewing "American History" through a Native lens, this is a wonderful place to begin to understand how Native culture flourishes DESPITE a government that tries repeatedly to erase those that were here first and still persevere.

Thanks to much to PRH Audio for the audiobook arc of this amazing novel.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read through the adult original version as I was halfway through this one to get the feel for the differences, it unfortunately falls into the same pit as many of them do-- if someone is interested in the topic, I'd rather recommend the original than the adaptation. While the book is reduced in size, it also removes some of the law and politics but mostly some of the geographical organization of the Native Americans around the continent. This book does include images to help position the story and a chronological organization with subheadings to help guide the reader but there is still some deeper entrenched history that could be reworked and reworded to capture and maintain the attention of teen readers. While I don't like comparisons, I will compare and say that that An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People has a stronger voice for a teen reader to maintain the curiousness (as a non-Native) or find connection for a Native reader to the roots of the those that lived here.

Treuer's goal is to talk about the present, but there's so much history that comes with it that while he moves along chronologically to the present ("Digital Indians") it feels more history than present or future. On the same side, he includes bits about his family's history-- so sometimes I'm reading about his biographical story and then sometimes not, which interrupted the flow.

While I seem to focus on the negative, there is a bevy of information that anyone needs to know about Indigenous people and specifically his message, that he includes in the prologue, that the Indian is not dead. There is a rich history yes, but there is a fruitful present and future. It works but it's not the strongest adaptation truly fitted for the audience.

[Lauren Ellzey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is both important and essential. I picked it up off the shelf at a museum, having recognized David Treuer's name. Information is the opposite of ignorance, and it would be hard to finish this book without knowing so much more than one started knowing. The adaptation for young readers element of this book may make it easier to finish the content but doesn't quite feel like it's designed for young readers (hence the four stars). That being said, it reads much better than a textbook, so this could be a helpful book to use in a classroom setting.

I strongly recommend this book.

[Hilary Margitich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Treuer’s personal mission for his book—to capture the vitality and spirit of Native American peoples, past and present, is eloquently expressed in his prologue and epilogue. Having grown up listening to sad stories of his ancestors’ defeats, he decided to change that narrative and tell different stories—ones that are inspiring and full of bravery, determination, and resilience. His author’s voice is amazing, and there is not enough room here to capture all the prolific statements he makes, but here is one of my favorites:
“The HOW of the telling shapes the WHAT. This book is meant to tell the story of Indian lives, and Indian histories, in such a way as to render those histories and those lives as something much more, much greater and grander, than a catalog of pain. I have tried to catch us not in the act of dying but, rather, in the radical act of living.”

This is the young adult adaptation of his bestselling book that was a 2019 finalist for both the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal. The chapters cover ancient history up through the present, with thoughtful themes such as “Moving on Up: 1945-1970” and “Becoming Indian: 1970-1980”. Treuer is a masterful storyteller, bringing the different historical eras to life with his vivid and at times, first-hand accounts and observations. Read this book and buy it for the teens in your life. They will be better off for having read it!

[Haley The Caffeinated Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read but unfortunately I think it may be too dry for the general target audience in its delivery especially the first 20% more so than the rest which just has so much incredible information it's hard not to be completely taken in. A book that should undoubtedly be used for education, I enjoyed it overall but found it took time to get through the information. Really more 3/5 on delivery and I would suggest the original versus this YA adaptation but again the information is too important for me to give it a rating down so I've rounded up to 4. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Janae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an amazing collection of information on Native American history and culture. I LOVED it ..... as an adult. This particular book is cultivated for young readers and I don't believe that is the target audience this should be approaching.

I'm a mom to four vivacious readers with my oldest 14. He reads encyclopedias for fun. I can't see him enjoying the meat of this book formatted the way it is.

I personally loved it, but I think it's more for adults.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced e copy.

[SamSamSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot of important information from reading this book! I struggled with the first half or so because the content very dense and jumped around in time quite a bit. I was never a history buff so the names/dates/places were a bit much for me. What really worked for me were the anecdotes and interviews included in the narrative that were then tied back to larger themes and historical issues. I agree with other reviews that this wouldn't be an enormously popular read for young adults, but I enjoyed it as an adult so four stars it is!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with Savannah's review about the readability of this book. It's meant to be the young reader's addition - I'm 29 and I couldn't finish the book. There is a lot of laws, acts and politics, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it felt as though information was being flung at me but not in a creative/captivating way, enough to which it held my attention until the end of the book.
It's a shame because I like the reasoning for why the book was written and it's an important topic that deserves to be covered, it just wasn't delivered in the best way, in my opinion.

[Kirstyn (readwithkirstyn) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is a wonderful and informative book full of things to learn about native culture in the United States that makes it comfortable for younger readers. This is a very serious and important story and I hope this helps young readers learn about this even more.

[C. A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this young reader's adaptation of the adult nonfiction title that expands Native American history in the US past its "end" at Wounded Knee to a present and a future. Brilliantly done.

[Alex Richey · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of good information, it's just a little scattered in the way it arranges everything. It was certainly an eye opening read.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really want to visit Minneapolis now to eat at Owamni!