Simon J. Ortiz

Oxford Reading Tree : Stage 3 : Floppy's Phonics Non-Fiction : Men on the Moon : Stage 3

The weather--portrayed with vivid imagery--dominates this collection, set on the prairies. In Three Days Before Spring, Snow Again, he writes: "Wind is up again, / swirling and pushing around / like it had nowhere to go, / losing and finding things / and losing them again." By the author of Woven Stone.

The massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children by U.S. soldiers at Sand Creek in 1864 was a shameful episode in American history, and its battlefield was proposed as a National Historic Site in 1998 to pay homage to those innocent victims. Through the pages of this sobering work, Ortiz offers a new perspective on history and on America. Perhaps more important, he offers a breath of hope that our peoples might learn from each other.

In a collage of journal entries, free-verse poems, and renderings of poems in the Acoma language, the renowned Native American poet draws on his life experiences over the past ten years - recalling time spent in academic conferences and writers' colonies, jails and detox centers - to convey something of the personal and cultural history of dislocation.

Presents a comprehensive collection of one hundred black-and-white images of Native American leaders made by Frank A. Rinehart from 1898 to 1900, and includes fourteen essays which reflect upon those photographs from writers, educators, and descendents of those individuals.

Two boys are sent by their people to the west to visit the Shiwana, the spirits of rain and snow, and bring back rain to relieve a drought.

Now it is My Turn to Stand. At Acoma Pueblo meetings, members rise and announce their intention to speak. In that moment they are recognized and heard. In Speaking for the Generations, Acoma Pueblo poet Simon Ortiz brings together contemporary Native American writers to take their turn. Each offers an evocation of herself or himself, describing the personal, social, and cultural influences on her or his development as a writer. Although each writer's viewpoint is personal and unique, together they reflect the rich tapestry of today's Native literature.

"A path-breaking photo narrative of Dorn and African-American photographer Leroy Lucas's mid-1960s travels through Shoshoni Indian country (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah) to paint a stark tableau of modern Native life"--

Grade 11

[Things Fall Apart]( Chinua Achebe -- The Second coming / William Butler Yeats -- Genesis 22:1-19 : The sacrifice of Isaac / Bible-- Mother was a great man / Catherine Obianuju Acholonu -- Prayer to Masks / Le'opold Se'dar Senghor -- Shooting an elephant / George Orwell -- The significance of a Veteran's Day / Simon Ortiz -- Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog / Stephanie Vaughn -- Exiles / Mark Strand.

High School level

Publisher description: In Winged Words Laura Coltelli interviews some of America's foremost Indian poets and novelists, including Paula Gunn Allen, Michael Dorris, Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, N. Scott Momaday, Simon Ortiz, Wendy Rose, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gerald Vizenor; and James Welch. They candidly discuss the debt to old and the creation of new traditions, the proprieties of age and gender; and the relations between Indian writers and non-Indian readers and critics, and between writers and anthropologists and histo-rians. In exploring a wide range of topics, each writer arrives at his or her own moment of truth.