Charlie Russell

“A delightful book for young readers about the greatest artist and storyteller of the old American West.” —Raphael James Cristy, author of Charles M. Russell: The Storyteller’s Art

Charles Marion Russell was the first artist to live most of his life in the West, sketching and painting not only from live subjects, but from actual experience. Becoming a frontiersman at a young age in 1880, he rode and worked with horses on a daily basis, something that no other Western artist had done before. This biography for children is the first of its kind about Russell, and the subject’s own vibrant paintings illustrate his life story. It follows Russell from his school days through adulthood and reveals how he held on to his dreams, living out a child’s cowboy fantasy.

Charlie Russell not only wanted to experience the West, he wanted to replicate it. It took years of hard work and determination to land a job as a cattleman and longer still for him to master his artistic talents. Through stories, paintings, and clay, wax, and bronze figures, he was able to capture that rare spirit of the region and pass it along to others. He became a famous artist, author, outdoorsman, environmentalist, storyteller, and beloved Western figure—and today, thousands of his paintings, sculptures, and drawings are held in the C. M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. This book pays tribute to a great Western artist, encouraging every young cowboy to live out his dreams.

“Chock-full of some of his most memorable paintings of the American West . . . A simple but lively text.” —The Bellingham Herald