9 May 1887: "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show opens in London, giving Queen Victoria and the English a look at real American cowboys and Indians
Shooting for the Moon: The Amazing Life and Times of Annie Oakley
By Stephen Krensky
Illustrated by Bernie Fuchs
Nonfiction/Picture book biography
Recommended for: Grammar students
32 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2001)
This is a treasure of a book about a young woman who became a legend in her lifetime. Annie broke down barriers by excelling in a domain populated exclusively by men, and one in which she frequently outmatched them.
To borrow my daughter Chloe's words, "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" was like the Western version of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Although "Buffalo" Bill Cody--who came by his nickname honestly during his time as a buffalo hunter for the railroad--got his taste for show business by starring in a stage show based on his life, he quickly had a grander vision of an outdoor spectacle. "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" was born. They toured all over the United States, fascinating crowds of 20,000 spectators. The great Indian chief Sitting Bull even traveled with the show for a year. Others, such as the young, beautiful sharpshooter Annie Oakley, found stardom with the show. After four years in the U.S., Cody took his show to Europe and then around the world; by some accounts, the show circumnavigated the globe at least three times, including such out of the way locales as Mongolia.
Europeans, especially, were awed by the genuine cowboys and Native Americans that performed in Cody's extravaganza. The uniquely American skills showcased and the brash American spirit of the show made it a smashing success. Queen Victoria herself attended the show twice. Individual skills such as sharp shooting, bulldogging, and rope tricks led into large scale reenactments of a stage coach attack, Pony Express relay, and Custer's Last Stand. It was a thrilling, if slightly exaggerated, account of life in the American West.
Presenting Buffalo Bill: The Man Who Invented the Wild West
By Candace Fleming
Nonfiction/Biography
Recommended for: Dialectic students (but even adults enjoy this one)
288 pages
Published by: Roaring Brook Press (2016)
Candace Fleming is a wonderful writer. Buffalo Bill is a difficult subject. He was a smart, hard-scrabble, complex man, so capturing all that is challenge enough. Throw in the ethical issues that come into play--whether or not Native Americans were exploited and whether the perception of them that the audience was given was an honest one--and Fleming's job becomes even more difficult. She handles all the elements well, providing students with a balanced biography.