They Came from the Bronx

by Neil Waldman

A Comanche boy sits beside his grandmother on a hilltop in Oklahoma. As the old woman gazes across the valley below, she remembers the lost world of her youth and the greatest gift of the Great Spirit--the buffalo. Like other children of his generation, the Comanche boy on the hilltop has never set eyes on a buffalo. The great herds that once stretched to the far corners of the sky have vanished from the plains. After years of slaughter, the buffalo live only in the memory of the tribe's elders. But on this October morning in 1907, the boy will see with his eyes what he had previously seen only in his imagination. This special book commemorates the dream of saving a significant part of North America's heritage and native peoples' culture. From the archives of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Neil Waldman has created a work that is both poignant and inspiring.

Genres: Animals, Picture Books, History, Childrens, Native Americans

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Neil Waldman's paintings and prints are included in many prestigious collections around the world. His oils, acrylics and watercolors may be seen in the capital buildings of more than a dozen nations, and in numerous major corporations.

.....His works have garnered many awards and honours. Notable among these is a gold medal from the United Nations in a closed international competition in which Waldman was chosen to represent the United States. The world body selected his entry as the official poster for the International Year of Peace. Today it hangs in the halls of the U. N. General Assembly.

.....Waldman was commissioned by the American Brands Corporation to paint the portraits of twenty famous Americans for their centennial exhibition "The American Achievers". This collection traveled to museums, galleries and exhibit halls around the country, and was eventually published in a book of the same name. Waldman has designed postage stamps for thirteen nations, written and illustrated more than fifty books for young people, and won the Christopher Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Parents Choice Award, the American Library Association Notable Award, and a host of others. In addition, he has illustrated the covers of seven Newbery Award winners.

.....In the Summer of 2006, Waldman created the Fred Dolan Art Academy in the Bronx, along with his long-time friend, Marc Broxmeyer. The Academy's purpose is to provide motivated Bronx teenagers with the skills necessary in the development of portfolios for entry into art college. To date, twenty-one students have graduated from the academy, all twenty-one going on to college with scholarships.

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For once, a great non-fiction book for children. Not only did we have a lot of discussion about Native Americans and what the "white man" did to them, but we also discussed the importance of the buffalo, hunting only what you use, and the overall preservation of animals. And on the tails of MLK day, it was quite difficult to answer "why are white people so mean?". I wish I knew.

The story is told through an old woman to her grandson, how the great buffalo roamed the hills as far and thick as the eye could see. But once the white man arrived, they were depleted to the brink of extinction.

On this day in 1907 however, the American Bison Society, in part with the Bronx Zoo, had arranged for the transportation of 15 bison that they had bred, to be moved from the Bronx Zoo to the Comanche Reservation in Oklahoma. This was the first time the old woman's children and grandchildren had ever seen a buffalo; a creature that was vital to their culture and survival for centuries.

I'm not going to lie, I choked up a bit when they returned them to their natural habitat. I have a really hard time with what our society does to these beautiful beasts, along with wolves, tigers, and any other creature whose hunted, poached, or habitat is destroyed insofar as depleting the numbers of these creatures to dire levels.

I would have given this 5 stars, but I believe there is some misleading information here, as to my understanding, the original buffalo are truly extinct and were bred with cows to become what are today known as bison. I will do some more research on this to verify just to be sure, but I am fairly positive this is the case.

(After having this conversation with the little one, I wondered, do they still have kids watch Centennial in school? If not, I am going to make him. EDIT: I just found that it was based off of a book Centennial)

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book to read before our trip to the Black Hills - including Custer State Park.

[Asho · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cool story. F (5) picked it out from the library because "buffalo" are her favorite animal (she knows that they are actually called bison, she just enjoys the song "Home on the Range," so insists on calling them buffalo because of the song).
The story is wordy, so 5 is about as young as I would go with it. Even then, I had to check in to make sure F understood that we were simultaneously being told the story from two perspectives, the perspective of the native Americans on the plains waiting for the bison to return, and the perspective of the narrator explaining the journey from the Bronx to the plains.
I learned some interesting history from this book, and now want to check out the Bronx Zoo.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two stories intertwine, one of a Comanche boy told by his grandmother about the extinction of the buffalo, the other about the saving of several of these animals by a zoo and conservationists bringing them back to the grasslands of Oklahoma at the beginning of the 20th century.
The only criticism I have is that the saving of this small herd doesn´t compensate the killing by the white settlers.

[Tam Newell · Rating 3 out of 5]

50 States book for Oklahoma. Told in two intertwined stories — a native Americans grandmother telling of the buffalo free roaming in the past and the narrator’s voice telling how the buffalo were saved from extinction.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice quick introduction to the Bronx Zoo's contribution in saving the American bison from extinction with a reintroduction project by the American Bison Society.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the history that it tells. The way it alternates between the bison and the young boy with his grandmother was a nice touch.

[Bruce Nordstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I read this title while looking for something else in my local library's computer card catalog, and I knew I had to read it. Lucky for me, this is a childrens' book, with less than 40 pages. Each page is faced by a very excellent illustration by Neil Waldman.

(OK-Spoiler alert. In nineteen oh five the great American Buffalo was faced with extinction. There were about 1091 still surviving in various parks and zoos in the East, but in the wild... And this is the story of how a group of concerned citizens began breeding and shipping those buffalo, to save the species, back to their native areas in the West. This is a great success story which I knew nothing about until I found this book. We could use a few thousand more just like it.

I'd like to find more about this story with a lot more detail.

[Bobbie]

i thought it was a good book they teach you about how the buffalo were saved they were saved by the native people the saved them by not killing them as much and running the white people awasy

[Debra]

K - 5

Population growth of buffalo herd

Told from Native American Grandmother to her Grandson

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taking the buffalo back to Oklahoma. Flashes between Natives in OK waiting for the buffalo train, and the buffalo's trip from the Bronx.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to find really good children's nonfiction. This is great.