TEA LITTLE THUNDER—
Native Woman Child-Warrior-Hero
Teresa Big Thunder, Tea, is a 12 year old Lakota basketball star. In Little Owls she recounts the week which begins Monday morning with the rescue of three baby owls from the heights of a giant cottonwood tree and ends Saturday night when she faces being shot and thrown from Buzzard Butte. She also tells the life story of her great grandfather, Otis Red Leaf. She shares how Miss Rose built the best school in the world, and why, in the spring of 1985, Aaron Walker drove from Minnesota to the Pine Ridge Reservation and shot her teacher.
I was an angry and rebellious Hispanic teenager when I met Walt Valentine more than 20 years ago. He was my counselor. He became my mentor, and friend. Little Owls informs young women of color that they have the potential to be heroines, powerful beyond measure.
– Amanda Hausner, LMSW, Field Education Coordinator, NMHU
Walt Valentine supported me through high school and has become my friend. As a Native woman I appreciate that Walt has spent his career teaching, coaching and empowering young women of color. His heroine, Tea Big Thunder, personifies what he believes is the potential of every young woman.
– Danelle Smith, Partner, Fredericks Peebles & Morgan LLP
I have taught with Walt Valentine for nearly ten years. He truly believes that the perfect school, described in Little Owls, is possible in the real world.
– Marybeth Kilnoski, 5th Grade Math Teacher, Marrs Middle School
