The Great North American Prairie: A Literary Field Guide

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The second book in the Stories from Where We Live series focuses on the North American Prairie, which stretches from Alberta south to Texas, east to Illinois. Literature of this region introduces young readers to its natural heritage. This book includes songs and narratives of Plains Indians, tales of 19th-century settlers, and contemporary stories and poems.

The blizzard / an essay by Gary Penley --
Outside Abilene / a poem by Harley Elliott --
Homestead girl / a story by Cindy Rogers --
Midway morning / an essay by Robin E. Kelsey --
Song of the cow and owl / a song for Siya'ka --
Corn / a story by E.G. Willy --
Mollie Goodnight / a poem by Elaine Terranova --
Riding the rails / an essay by Carl Sandburg --
Tales from Tornado Alley / an essay by William Least Heat-Moon --
Dakota Thunderstorm / a poem by Laurence Snydal --
From thin air / a story by Douglas C. Dosson --
How to live in Buffalo Country / a poem by Don Welch --
Springtime on the plains / an essay by Hal Borland --
Ice whales / a poem by Joyce Sidman --
The last best swimming hole / an essay by Patric Rowley --
The country of grass / by Willa Cather --
Letter from Texas / a letter by George O'keeffe --
Reflections on Gullies / essay by Art Bettis --
Children of the sun / an Osage story --
Salamander / by Jan Donely --
In the autumn grass / a poem by Hamlin Garland --
Big grass / an essay by Louise Erdrich --
Going home to Nicodemus / an essay by Daniel Chu and Bill Shaw --
Raspberries / a poem by Georgia Cook --
A poppin' tale / a story by Helen Colella --
Recollections / an oral history by Iron Teeth --
Two strangers come to Maggie's Prairie / a story by Carol Green --
Cornfields thaw out / a poem by Alurista --
Disappearances / an essay by Julene Blair --
September in South Dakota / a poem by Sheryl L. Nelms --
Fire crazy / a story by Nancy Sather --
How to replant a prairie / a poem by Ann Lynn --
Snow print two: Hieroglyphics / a poem by Barbara Juster Esbensen --
Nature's ways / an essay by Sanora Babb --
Migration prayer: The geese speak / a poem by Cynthia Pederson --
The lesson of the birds / a Pawnee story --
Wawaskesy, the windrunner / a story by Gillian Richardson --
Prairie dogs live in Lubbock / a poem by Walt McDonald --
River dance / an essay by Ann Cooper --
Tumbleweeds / a poem by Beverly A.J. Haley --
In the open / an essay by Kathleen Norris --
Coyote Hunts / a story by Nancy Dawson --
Goldfinches / a poem by Cynthia Pederson --
Bringing back the buffalo / an essay by Gretchen Woelfle --
Comic owl / a poem by Ann Cooper --
Prairie sprirts on the wind / an essay by Marybeth Lorbiecki