I read the original version of this book and think this is an excellent adaptation for young readers and would recommend it to adults who might be intimidated by lengthier adult version. What I appreciate most about both is the personal aspects of the material, from Treuer's experiences growing up on a reservation, but also the people he meets along the way. For such a varied and complex history, it is amazing how much richer the the material was with the addition of the personal aspects of stories. While what has been done to the indigenous communities here, the word that stood out most is resilience - this is proof that a book can tackle tragic events without centering the tragedy.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is the kind of history that needs to be taught in schools. I will definitely be reading the original The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present in the future. I'm glad I started with the YA adaption because it feels like a more accessible way to begin confronting this violent past and present of US history.

CWs: Colonisation, racism, genocide, addiction, alcoholism, death, misogyny, racial slurs, rape, sexual violence, slavery, violence, forced institutionalization, xenophobia, police brutalist, grief, murder, kidnapping, gaslighting, war, deportation, forced removal from native land, poverty. Moderate: gun violence, suicide, cultural appropriation. Minor: sexual assault.

This history the of Native Americans is extremely powerful and well told. Not only is this YA adaptation accessible for its intended younger audience, but it is also full of so much information that it would also be suitable for adults as well. As an own voice reader I was exceedingly pleased to learn facts that I had missed and was happy to purchase copies for family members.

This book does what many others don't and discusses how Native American cultures and traditions continue to thrive today despite the persecutions they have faced throughout history. I'm not sure if it meets its target of becoming an adequate adaptation for young readers. For the high school readers who can appreciate this edition, I would be just as likely recommend to them the original publication which our library already owns and has much more detail.

This is a really excellent text for students to read about Wounded Knee. This fights the prevalent and whitewashed documentation of history and brings to light what happened through the Native and Indigenous lens. Lovely book!

This is very informative and a valuable read. I am torn on whether or not it will appeal to the intended audience. I am not sure if there is enough focus on the "young reader" adaptation to fit. I am going to give it three stars for that reason.

This was an amazing collection of information on Native American history and culture. I LOVED it ..... as an adult. This particular book is cultivated for young readers and I don't believe that is the target audience this should be approaching.

I'm a mom to four vivacious readers with my oldest 14. He reads encyclopedias for fun. I can't see him enjoying the meat of this book formatted the way it is.

I personally loved it, but I think it's more for adults.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced e copy.

I really enjoyed this conversation, as far as Native history it was all put together so well, I definitely am going to pick up more from this author soon.

This was a fascinating read but unfortunately I think it may be too dry for the general target audience in its delivery especially the first 20% more so than the rest which just has so much incredible information it's hard not to be completely taken in. A book that should undoubtedly be used for education, I enjoyed it overall but found it took time to get through the information. Really more 3/5 on delivery and I would suggest the original versus this YA adaptation but again the information is too important for me to give it a rating down so I've rounded up to 4. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is a wonderful and informative book full of things to learn about native culture in the United States that makes it comfortable for younger readers. This is a very serious and important story and I hope this helps young readers learn about this even more.

Many of my students would probably prefer to read the adult version of THE HEARTBEAT OF WOUNDED KNEE by David Treuer, but I appreciate having the Young Readers Adaptation as a baseline for everyone in my creative writing workshop. It's a good example for them to see how the power of storytelling, history, and how politics/opinions/racism can drive lawmaking. I look forward to bringing to my writers.

This was a very informative book of the native culture here in the US. I really enjoyed the background knowledge of all tribes over the continent. This is a story that needs to be shared. The only thing that I found negative was some opinion statements but that is hard to remove from the picture because it was such a horrific time for indegnous people. I hope that we can look at this as a window book into our past and help it shape our future.

I’m having a hard time rating this book. The information provided deserves five stars. But the execution as a book for “young readers” is three stars. I found the beginning of the book fascinating and captivating, and then it slowly tapered off into politics and laws and movements. Not that this is bad at all, but I don’t think many young readers would make it all the way through this book. It's honestly quite boring. The audience is clearly for adults still, which is a shame.

This book also tried to be too many things at once: history textbook, journalism, and memoir. It’s jumbled all together, and I had a hard time understanding how the memoir bits fit into the rest. The stories just didn’t engage me.

Treuer’s goal, as he states, is to paint a less tragic picture of Native life in America, which I’m not sure he achieved. I think he did a great job at going through the detailed history, but he still focused on tragedy. I think sharing less politics and more stories of intimate Native American lives could have helped (and would have connected more with young readers).

All in all, I wanted more story and more emotion for a young readers adaptation. Instead I got a history textbook with bits of memoir and journalism thrown in. This book wasn’t horrible by any means, but I think my expectations were a little too high.

Writing Aesthetic/Style: 3
Content: 5
Inspiration/Value: 3
Overall: 3

Thank you, Penguin Teen and NetGalley, for the ARC!

Trigger/Content Warnings: (all of these are noted, but usually not in great detail) war violence, racism, genocide, abuse, substance abuse, rape, murder