William F. Cody was born in the middle of the nineteenth century on the plains of Kansas Territory where his family had settled to trade with the friendly Kickapoo Tribe. These Natives were Bill's childhood playmates and at a tender age he traded his brand-new buckskin suit for a little wild Indian pony that he learned to ride like the wind. By the time he was twelve, he was doing the work of a grown man as a cattle driver, camping under the stars each night. When he was caught in a buffalo stampede his horsemanship saved his life. Then he met wilderness scout Kit Carson who taught him how to read the language of the plains. When daredevil riders were needed to carry the mail on the new Pony Express, Bill was one of the first to sign up. Then the Civil War began and Bill went East to fight for Kansas, since that state wanted nothing to do with slavery. The d'Aulaires have captured the allure of one of America's frontier icons in the drama of their lush lithographs and in a text that brings to life the story of the fearless, wild Buffalo Bill.

42 pgs

About the Authors: After the publication of Ola in 1932, the work of Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire has needed no introduction - their beautiful picture books have delighted countless children ever since. Ingri Mortenson and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire met in Munich where both were studying art in the 1920's. Ingri had grown up in Norway; Edgar, the son of a noted portrait painter, was born in Switzerland and had lived in Paris and Florence. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to the United States and began to create the picture books that have established their reputation for unique craftsmanship. Their books were known for their vivid lasting color. a result of the pain-staking process of stone lithography used for all their American history biographies. This was an old world craft in which they were both expert, which involved actually tracing their images on large slabs of Bavarian limestone. Throughout their long careers, Ingri and Edgar worked as a team on both art and text. Their research took them to the actual places of their biographies, including the countries of Italy, Portugal and Spain when they were researching Columbus; to the hills of Virginia while they researched Washington; and to the wilds of Kentucky and Illinois for Abraham Lincoln, winner of the Caldecott Medal. The fact that they spoke 5 languages fluently served them well in their European travels and in their research of original documents. Since their deaths in the 1980's, Ingri and Edgar's books and works have been kept alive by their two sons Ola and Nils.