Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 15-16: TreeTops True Stories: Tomahawk Beckwourth

Book excerpt: TreeTops True Stories are exciting, motivating non-fiction books which will broaden your pupils' reading experience. They are part of a structured reading programme for juniors. In the plethora of imagery surrounding the American Wild West, we are used to the heroes of cowboy films and the stuff of legends like Dances with Wolves being portrayed exclusively as white colonisers. Here is a story of a real character who was half African-American, being born to a slave mother and white land-owning father. James Tomahawk Beckwourth has rightly been claimed as a black hero in America, and yet the first Hollywood movie about him saw him played by a white actor! He led a colourful and adventure-packed life, and this story is retold in the first person with photos and beautiful artwork of the flora and fauna of untamed America. This book is also available as part of a mixed pack of 6 different books or a class pack of 36 books of the same Oxford Reading Tree stage. Each book pack comes with a free copy of invaluable teaching notes.