BUFFALO WAYS

A sweeping account of the buffalo’s near extinction and recovery.

Drawing on her own family history, Havrelock (Saddle Lake Plains Cree) traces buffalo from their Ice Age relatives (giant bison, Bison latifrons) to their central role in Plains life—spiritual, material, and ecological—through the devastation wrought by European settlers, who brought with them disease and pushed Indigenous peoples off their land in pursuit of the hide trade. At the heart of the book is Latatitsa (Little Peregrine Falcon Robe), a 19th-century Pend d’Oreille man who, carrying out his father’s dream, rounds up orphaned calves and shepherds them home through the Rocky Mountains; this herd becomes foundational to the species’ survival. Havrelock’s prose is dignified and measured, and she is careful to credit the wide coalition—Indigenous peoples, ranchers, national parks, and the U.S. and Canadian governments—whose combined efforts brought the buffalo back. Burns’ digital illustrations are painterly and textural, layering scumbled brushwork over collagelike backgrounds. In a sumptuous nighttime spread, a ring of wolves with eerie, glowing eyes lurks above a firelit foreground where Latatitsa guards his calves; through masterly use of page composition, Burns separates the cold blue of danger from the warm sanctuary of the campfire. Generous backmatter includes an author’s note, a timeline, the Buffalo Treaty, and resources for learning more about these animals.

A beautiful, stirring, and timeless tribute to buffalo and the First Peoples whose care brought them back from the brink.