Review by Booklist Review
In 1901, a pair of runaway orphans find themselves in the tent of Martha Jane Cannary, otherwise known as Calamity Jane, a captivating storyteller and sharpshooter of Custer's army. The children, like many who attended Buffalo Bill's Wild West traveling show, are enthralled by her tales of soldiers and the Lakota, regardless of whether they're actually true. The real calamity seems to be Jane's fondness for alcohol, and the narrative doesn't shy away from the fact that there is little proven truth to Jane's famous stories. A postscript by a Lakota professor and author, emphasizing the complicated history of Wild West shows that exploited harmful stereotypes while also giving women and tribal members the opportunity to make a living, provides helpful, grounding context. Van Sciver's full-color, expressive artwork folds in plenty of period detail, from clothing to gun use to routine smoking and drinking. This smooth introduction to one component of the U.S. government's betrayal of Native Americans will also remind readers that a myth's entertainment value is by no means an indication of its validity.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Before Calamity Jane became an icon of the Wild West, she was Martha Jane Canary (1852--1903), a teen learning how to survive on her own, an experience that Van Sciver (Beat It, Rufus) chronicles in this brief but riveting graphic novel narrated by a fictionalized version of the subject. In 1901 at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition, Jane performs theatrical reenactments of her adventures for an eager audience. Following an offstage encounter with a pair of orphaned runaways, however, Jane offers them a significantly more understated recounting of her youth crossing the Oregon Trail, living with financial insecurity, and working odd jobs to support herself after her parents' deaths. As Jane wistfully recalls driving oxen pulling railroad supplies and telling stories to workers around a campfire throughout her travels, her young audience expresses disappointment that none of her remembrances carries "the excitement of the Wild West." (World-weary Jane suggests they attend her next performance if they prefer dramatic tall tales over mundane stories of everyday life.) Gritty illustrations and ample 19th-century vernacular render a thought-provoking portrait of the rapidly changing era, across which romanticized depictions of the American West are juxtaposed with the harsh, sometimes unpleasant reality Jane endured. Concludes with a contextualizing afterword by Sicangu Lakota and Taíno scholar Susana Geliga, archival photographs, and a bibliography. Background characters are portrayed with varying skin tones. Ages 8--12. (Dec.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Calamity Jane's legend goes under the microscope. At the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., Calamity Jane recounts her exploits to a diverse crowd of spectators. The crowd audibly gasps as the former Pony Express rider--known to friends by her birth name, Martha--describes how she bested a desperado armed only with a meat cleaver. Buffalo Bill Cody, his Cowboy Band, and mighty warriors of the Lakota tribe all converge on the stage for a "rousing climactic performance." On her break, Jane takes trespassing young waifs under her wing, offering them food from her tent alongside a more personal version of her life story. Ultimately, Jane leaves and goes west. Van Sciver's successful graphic nonfiction formula sends another tall tale packing. An author's note preempts the narrative with essential historical context on harmful stereotypes and caricatures of Lakota people. Backmatter from contemporary Indigenous scholar and professor Dr. Susana Geliga (Sicangu Lakota and Boriken Taino) expands this context even further to truly center Indigenous perspectives against the mythic "Wild American West." Sepia tones and crosshatching call to mind classic Western comics; the color palette also effectively delineates flashbacks from the story's present. Photographs add authenticity to the lore, while Jane's unreliability as a narrator and figure is brought into question and deliciously muddies the truth. Engaging and eye-opening. (bibliography)(Graphic nonfiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
