The Story Catcher — Mari Sandoz

Young Lance is his father's son when it comes to the daring needed for gaining honors in the war councils of the plains Sioux. Even greater is his seeing medicine. With eyes growing sharper, he watches the warring between tribes, the buffalo hunting, the daily routine -- and shows it all in pictures drawn in the dust or on skins with charcoal and color sticks. But catching the story of Sioux society in the 1840s is not for an impetuous and unseasoned youth. Many adventures, sorrows, and hardships must pass before the village sings Lance's new name: Story Catcher, recorder of the history of his people.
Rooted in legend, history, and empathetic understanding, The Story Catcher, Sandoz's last novel, won the Levi Strauss Golden Saddleman Award and the Western Writers of America Spur Award.