I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade

I Rode A Horse Of Milk White Jade

Children's Books

Wilson, Diane

Animals

Bt Bound

Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past

One day I realized that my entire back seat was filled with relatives who wondered why I wasn’t paying more attention to their part of the family story. . . . Sooner or later they all come up to the front seat and whisper stories in my ear. Growing up in the 1950s in suburban Minneapolis, Diane Wilson had a family like everybody else’s. Her Swedish American father was a salesman at Sears and her mother drove her brothers to baseball practice and went to parent-teacher conferences. But in her thirties, Diane began to wonder why her mother didn’t speak of her past. So she traveled to South Dakota and Nebraska, searching out records of her relatives through six generations, hungering to know their stories. She began to write a haunting account of the lives of her Dakota Indian family, based on research, to recreate their oral history that was lost, or repressed, or simply set aside as gritty issues of survival demanded attention. Spirit Car is an exquisite counterpoint of memoir and carefully researched fiction, a remarkable narrative that ties modern Minnesotans to the trauma of the Dakota War. Wilson found her family’s love and humor—and she discovered just how deeply our identities are shaped by the forces of history.

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Borealis Books

"One day I realize that my entire back seat is filled with relatives who wonder why I'm not paying more attention to their part of the family story. . . . Sooner or later they all come up to the front seat and whisper stories in my ear." Growing up in the 1950s in suburban Minneapolis, Diane Wilson had a family like everybody else's. Her Swedish American father was a salesman at Sears and her mother drove her brothers to baseball practice and went to parent-teacher conferences. But in her thirties, Diane began to wonder why her mother didn't speak of her past. So she traveled to South Dakota and Nebraska, searching out records of her relatives through six generations, hungering to know their stories. She began to write a haunting account of the lives of her Dakota Indian family, based on research, to recreate their oral history that was lost, or repressed, or simply set aside as gritty issues of survival demanded attention. Spirit Car is an exquisite counterpoint of memoir and carefully researched fiction, a remarkable narrative that ties modern Minnesotans to the trauma of the Dakota War. Wilson found her family's love and humor—and she discovered just how deeply our identities are shaped by the forces of history.

Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life

"Far greater even than the loss of land, or the relentless coercion to surrender cultural traditions, the deaths of over six hundred children by the spring of 1864 were an unbearable tragedy. Nearly one hundred and fifty years after the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862, Dakota people are still struggling with the effects of this unimaginable loss." Among the Dakota, the Beloved Child ceremony marked the special, tender affection that parents felt toward a child whose life had been threatened. In this moving book, author Diane Wilson explores the work of several modern Dakota people who are continuing to raise beloved children: Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan, an artist and poet; Clifford Canku, a spiritual leader and language teacher; Alameda Rocha, a boarding school survivor; Harley and Sue Eagle, Canadian activists; and Delores Brunelle, an Ojibwe counselor. Each of these humble but powerful people teaches children to believe in the "genius and brilliance" of Dakota culture as a way of surviving historical trauma. Crucial to true healing, Wilson has learned, is a willingness to begin with yourself. Each of these people works to transform the effects of genocide, restoring a way of life that regards our beloved children as wakan, sacred.

"No ordinary horse story...Horse lovers or not, readers will be riveted." -Publishers Weekly Starred Review "Ambitious and fast-moving." -New York Times When Oyuna was a baby, a horse accidentally crushed her foot, cursing her family with bad luck. Oyuna vows to restore good fortune to her family...but how? One fateful day, soldiers from the great Khan's army invade her village to steal horses and gather new soldiers. In hopes of bringing honor to her family, Oyuna courageously disguises herself as a boy and joins the soldiers on their quest. With only her horse and her cat to keep her company, Oyuna sets off on an amazing journey across deserts and mountains-a journey that will change her life forever. What Readers Are Saying... "An enchanting adventure." "This story of courage, friendship, and bravery is complete with the addition of a life lesson that leaves a mark on the reader's heart: never give up on your dreams." "A book I'll never forget."

Literature & Fiction

Sourcebooks Young Readers

"Better that you'd never been born," his father had said. Soulai is not brave like his sister. Nor is he a skilled craftsman like his father. And when Soulai accidentally burns down his family's home, his father gives up. He sells Soulai into slavery for five years to pay off the debt. While working in the royal stables, Soulai meets a horse unlike any other-a stallion named Ti. Like Soulai, the stallion is owned by the spoiled young Prince Habasle. But unlike Soulai, the stallion is respected by all and thought to be marked for glory by the gods. Soulai realizes what he must do to escape his enslavement-befriend the stallion to prove that he's bound for his own land of greatness. "It's gripping, vivid storytelling."-Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review "A plot full of...action...and intrigue."-School Library Journal "[Readers] will be rewarded with an exciting adventure."- Voya

To Ride the Gods' Own Stallion

In this unique collaboration, four authors lyrically explore where they each come from―literally and metaphorically―as well as what unites all of us as humans. 
Richly layered illustrations connect past and present, making for an accessible and visually striking look at history, family, and identity. 
We come from stardust / our bodies made of ancient elements. / We come from single cells / evolving over billions of years. / We come from place, language, and spirit. / And each of us comes from story.

Where We Come From

Gibney, Shannon

Shin, Sun Yung

Coy, John

Biographies

Carolrhoda Books ®

A BuzzFeed "Best Book of Spring 2021" A Bustle "Most Anticipated Debut Novel of 2021 ABon Appetit "Best Summer 2021 Read A Thrillist "Best New Book of 2021" A Books Are Magic "Most Anticipated Book of 2021" AMinneapolis Star Tribune "Book to Look Forward to in 2021" ADaily Beast "Best Summer 2021 Read" A haunting novel spanning several generations,The Seed Keeper follows a Dakhóta family's struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakhóta people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn't return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato--where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they've inherited. On a winter's day many years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home. A widow and mother, she has spent the previous two decades on her white husband's farm, finding solace in her garden even as the farm is threatened first by drought and then by a predatory chemical company. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women withsouls of iron--women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools. Weaving together the voices of four indelible women,The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors.

The Seed Keeper: A Novel

United States

MILKWEED EDITIONS *

Diane Wilson is an activist, shrimper, and all around hell-raiser whose first book, An Unreasonable Woman, told of her battle to save her bay in Seadrift, Texas. Back then, she was an accidental activist who worked with whistleblowers, organized protests, and eventually sunk her own boat to stop the plastic-manufacturing giant Formosa from releasing dangerous chemicals into water she shrimped in, grew up on, and loved. But, it turns out, the fight against Formosa was just the beginning. In Diary of an Eco-Outlaw, Diane writes about what happened as she began to fight injustice not just in Seadrift, but around the world-taking on Union Carbide for its failure to compensate those injured in the Bhopal disaster, cofounding the women's antiwar group Code Pink to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, attempting a citizens arrest of Dick Cheney, famously covering herself with fake oil and demanding the arrest of then BP CEO Tony Hayward as he testified before Congress, and otherwise becoming a world-class activist against corporate injustice, war, and environmental crimes. As George Bernard Shaw once said, "all progress depends on unreasonable women." And in the Diary of an Eco-Outlaw, the eminently unreasonable Wilson delivers a no-holds-barred account of how she-a fourth-generation shrimper, former boat captain, and mother of five-took a turn at midlife, unable to stand by quietly as she witnessed abuses of people and the environment. Since then, she has launched legislative campaigns, demonstrations, and hunger strikes-and generally gotten herself in all manner of trouble. All worth it, says Wilson. Jailed more than 50 times for civil disobedience, Wilson has stood up for environmental justice, and peace, around the world-a fact that has earned her many kudos from environmentalists and peace activists alike, and that has forced progress where progress was hard to come by.

Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth

Chelsea Green Publishing

The Minnesota Humanities Center presents Minnesota Native American Lives, three stories of exceptional individuals across sports, language, and government! Ella Cara Deloria loved to listen to her family tell stories in the Dakota language. She recorded many American Indian peoples' stories and languages and shared them with everyone. She helped protect her people's language for future generations. She also wrote stories of her own. Her story is a Minnesota Native American life. The Minnesota Native American Lives Series includes biographies of Charles Albert Bender, Ella Cara Deloria, and Peggy Flanagan. Read all three!

Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector

Wise Ink

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Books by Wilson, Diane

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wilson, Diane. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade

Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past

Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past

Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade

To Ride the Gods' Own Stallion

Where We Come From

The Seed Keeper: A Novel

Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth

Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector