Charlie Russell: Tale-Telling Cowboy Artist - Hardcover

"This is a delightful book for young readers about the greatest artist and storyteller of the old American West-Charlie Russell."
-Raphael James Cristy, author of Charles M. Russell: The Storyteller's Art

"I lived to play and I'm playing yet."
-Charlie Russell

The story of a boy who fulfilled two lifelong dreams unfolds in this picture-book biography for young readers. A talented self-taught artist, young Charlie Russell loved the West and tales of settling the frontier. He would skip school to sit at the docks and listen to stories about gun-shooting bandits, grizzly bears, and hungry wolves.
Born to be an artist, Russell was obsessed with drawing and sculpting figures from the tales he heard. He moved from Missouri to Montana when he was a teenager to work on cattle ranches as a real cowboy. After a hard day's work, he would sit around the campfire, telling stories and sketching Western scenes. His talent developed until he decided to paint and sculpt full time and sold his pictures to books, calendars, and magazines.
Charlie Russell was the first Western artist to live predominantly in the West and have firsthand knowledge of his subject matter, though many artists after him would follow his example. The sculptures and paintings that delighted his friends now delight Western art fans at the C. M. Russell Museum. A collection of approximately two thousand pieces remains in Russell's adopted home of Great Falls, Montana.

[Back flap]
Lois V. Harris's fiction, nonfiction, and photography have appeared in children's magazines and the L.A. Times. The author of Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter, available from Pelican, Harris is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Authors Guild, the University of Washington Alumni Association, and the Seattle Art Museum. She lives with her family and two cats in Anacortes, Washington, and enjoys visiting museums and learning about art.