New Book 'Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Sa

                                                   Written by Gina Capaldi and QL Pearce

Launch date, October, 2011
 Adapted by Gina Capaldi and QL Pearce.  Illustrated by Gina Capaldi

As the adapters of her life story, our goal has been to maintain the spirit and to celebrate the life and achievements of Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa) American Indian, writer, musician, and activist. To paint her story we have adapted three serialized semiautobiographical essays she wrote for the Atlantic Monthly in the early 1900's.

Beginning with Zitkala-Sa's own words, we have woven additional primary and secondary sources into the text. We have reworked her language and substituted modern phrasing for clarity. There is so much about Zitkala Sa we wanted to share. In an attempt to do so, I used the illustration medium as a form of documentation. The illustrations are mixed media. Various materials were applied to each spread to support both an historical and a personal story. These include period newspaper articles, ads, postcards, and so on. Flora, indigenous to South Dakota, was applied to add authenticity to images of the region. Period railroad maps were the backdrop for two spreads. I also added human hair to the cover, boarding school, and violin spread (Graduating White's). With this idea I went a step further and applied real bow strings made of horse hair…and, real violin strings.  In addition, doll house curtains were incorporated into the night scene. String, fabric and even a ribbon and medal from Earlham College were used in the process.