FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 24, 2010

CONTACT: Jeff Mammenga, Media Coordinator, (605) 773-6000,

State Historical Society Releasing Children’s Book Enchanted Buffalo

PIERRE, S.D.—Saturday, Sept. 25, is the worldwide release date for The Enchanted Buffalo, the latest children’s book from the South Dakota State Historical Society.

L. Frank Baum’s The Enchanted Buffalo is the fifth book in the Prairie Tale Series from the South Dakota State Historical Society Press. Donald F. Montileaux (MON’-tih-loh), a renowned Oglala Lakota Sioux artist from Rapid City, illustrated the fairy tale set on the prairies of South Dakota.

Good and evil, treachery and bravery, pride and wisdom are featured in the fable about the heyday of buffalo on the Great Plains.

The Enchanted Buffalo, written in 1905, is about a tribe of mighty buffalo that find themselves without a leader.  A power struggle among several of the buffalo teaches readers about the dangers of greed, dirty tricks and broken promises.

Baum is best remembered for his book The Wizard of Oz, but he also wrote many other fairy tales and short stories. Time he spent in South Dakota inspired him to write The Enchanted Buffalo, based on American Indian traditions. Baum was a newspaperman in Aberdeen from 1888-1891.

Montileaux’s book, Tatanka and the Lakota People: A Creation Story, won an Aesop Accolade and a Spur Award, as well as three other national awards. His ledger-book-inspired artwork has been featured across the nation in both private and public collections.

Available for $14.95 plus shipping and tax, The Enchanted Buffalo can be purchased from most bookstores or ordered directly from the South Dakota State Historical Society Press. Visit www.sdshspress.com or call (605) 773-6009.

The Prairie Tale Series has won 11 national awards, including an Aesop Accolade from the American Folklore Society, Most Outstanding Children's Book from the Mom's Choice Awards for Dance in a Buffalo Skull, and most recently, a Distinctive Illustration prize, also from the Mom's Choice Awards.

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The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Tourism and State Development and strives to help the state meet the goals of the 2010 Initiative by enhancing history as a tool for economic development and cultural tourism. The society is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call (605) 773-3458 or visit www.history.sd.gov for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call (605) 394-1936 for more information.