This infor­ma­tive and inspir­ing pic­ture book by acclaimed author Kim Rogers (Wichi­ta), with strik­ing art­work by debut illus­tra­tor Bob­by Von Mar­tin (Choctaw), cel­e­brates the achieve­ments of Clarence Tin­ker, a mem­ber of the Osage Nation who became the first Native Amer­i­can major general.

​Clarence Tin­ker always knew that he want­ed to do some­thing extra­or­di­nary. Some­thing adven­tur­ous. Some­thing that made a dif­fer­ence in the world.

But as a mem­ber of the Osage Nation at the turn of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry, there were a lot of obsta­cles that he had to face to achieve his dreams. When he was a child, Clarence was tak­en away from his fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty. He was forced to attend a pris­on­like board­ing school, like many oth­er Native chil­dren of his gen­er­a­tion. There, he wasn’t able to speak his lan­guage or prac­tice his Osage customs.

Still, Clarence kept his dream close to his heart and joined the US Army with the goal of becom­ing an offi­cer. Though he was tread­ing an unfa­mil­iar path, he worked hard and nev­er for­got his Osage val­ues and tra­di­tions that, ulti­mate­ly, paved his way to success.

I Am Osage, the first non­fic­tion project from the Heart­drum imprint, com­bines gor­geous, vibrant art­work with a stir­ring text that cel­e­brates an unsung hero while also shed­ding light on sig­nif­i­cant Amer­i­can history.

Fea­tures an author’s note and timeline.