Buffalo Before Breakfast

This book is part of the Magic Tree House series, following eight-year-old Jack and his sister, Annie, on adventures through time using a magic tree house filled with books. The tree house belongs to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian from the time of King Arthur. In this story arc, Jack and Annie must collect four special gifts to free a small enchanted dog named Teddy from a magic spell. Having already obtained the first gift, a silver pocket watch from their trip aboard the Titanic, they now set out in search of the second.

One morning in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, Teddy, a scruffy brown dog, appears outside Jack's window. Annie rushes in to tell Jack it is time for their second mission. They hurry outside, telling their mom they will be right back; she reminds them that breakfast and a visit from their grandmother are coming soon. Teddy leads them through the woods to the magic tree house, where Annie reads Morgan's note aloud. To free Teddy, they must receive four gifts: one from a ship lost at sea, one from "the prairie blue," one from a forest far away, and one from a kangaroo. They already have the first, the pocket watch frozen at 2:20. Jack finds a book titled The Great Plains and decides it will take them where they need to go. He points at the cover, wishes to travel there, and the tree house spins and transports them.

Jack and Annie land in a lone tree on a vast golden prairie in the early 1800s. Their clothes have magically changed to buckskin, a soft tanned animal hide, with coonskin caps to match. Annie suggests "the prairie blue" refers to the sky above them. Jack reads aloud that the Great Plains once covered nearly a fifth of America's land and were sometimes called "an ocean of grass." They walk through chest-high grass until they spot a circle of tepees, with people in buckskins, horses, and ponies. Jack reads that the Lakota were the largest Native American tribe on the Great Plains. The book also notes that conflict between Lakota warriors and white soldiers eventually caused the Lakota to lose both their land and their traditional way of life.

A rider approaches on horseback. Jack fears a warrior, but the rider turns out to be Black Hawk, a Lakota boy of about ten or eleven. Annie introduces herself and Jack, and Black Hawk invites them to meet his people, explaining that his parents died long ago and he lives with his grandmother. Jack consults the research book and learns that good Lakota manners involve speaking few words and sharing gifts, that the Lakota admire those who show no fear, and that holding up two fingers means "friend."

As they enter camp, Jack and Annie hold up two fingers and walk tall. Black Hawk leads them into his grandmother's tepee, where an old woman sits sewing beads onto a moccasin beside a central fire. Jack gives Grandmother his coonskin cap as a gift, and she puts it on and laughs, reminding Jack of his own grandmother. She tells them they wish to learn Lakota ways and leads them outside. Grandmother explains that items such as bear claws, hawk feathers, elk teeth, and porcupine quills are sewn onto garments to give the wearer the power of those animals. She also describes the many gifts the buffalo provides the Lakota: food, tepee skins, tools from bones, cups from horns, and ropes from hair. Black Hawk goes into the tepee and emerges wearing a wolf's hide, explaining that it gives him the wolf's hunting strength during buffalo hunts.

Black Hawk brings two ponies for Jack and Annie to ride bareback, without saddles. Annie names the black one Midnight and the yellow one Sunlight. She mounts easily, but Jack struggles before pulling himself up. They ride to the top of a grassy slope and see thousands of buffalo stretching across the plains. Jack reads that at the start of the 1800s there were 40 million bison on the Great Plains, but a century later fewer than 300 remained, nearly all killed by white hunters and soldiers. This confirms they have arrived before the settlers came. Despite Grandmother's instruction not to hunt and Jack's and Annie's warnings, Black Hawk dismounts and creeps toward the herd on all fours to show off his bravery. He sneezes near the nearest buffalo, causing it to charge and setting off a stampede. Teddy leaps from Annie's arms and runs barking toward the buffalo, and Annie chases after him on foot. Jack rides Sunlight down the slope into the stampede, reaches Black Hawk, who throws himself over the pony's back, and they ride to safety together.

From the hilltop, Jack and Black Hawk watch as Annie stands among the buffalo, patting them and talking to them. The calm spreads outward until the entire herd stops and resumes grazing. Annie explains that a beautiful woman in a white leather dress appeared, held up her hands, and helped stop the buffalo before vanishing. Black Hawk tells them she is the spirit of White Buffalo Woman, a sacred figure in Lakota tradition. Teddy bounds out of the grass unharmed, and Black Hawk urges them to ride back to camp.

They return at sunset. Black Hawk confesses to Grandmother that he tried to hunt alone, that Jack saved him, and that Annie and White Buffalo Woman stopped the stampede. Grandmother scolds him, saying his pride led to showing off, which led to foolishness, which frightened the buffalo. She tells him that one thing always leads to another and that all things are connected. She then praises Jack and Annie, giving them Lakota names, Buffalo Girl and Rides-Like-Wind, and welcomes them into the family.

That evening, the tribe holds a sacred pipe ceremony. Grandmother explains that the smoke from the pipe joins all things to the Great Spirit, the source of everything in the sacred circle of life. White Buffalo Woman, she says, is a messenger of the Great Spirit who brought the sacred pipe so Lakota prayers could reach the Great Spirit, who answers by sending buffalo. When Annie asks why White Buffalo Woman came to her, Grandmother says courage can sometimes summon help from beyond. She gives Jack and Annie an eagle feather as a gift for their courage. They recognize it as their "gift from the prairie blue." Their second mission is complete, and they sleep on buffalo robes in Grandmother's tepee.

At dawn, the Lakota are dismantling the camp to follow the buffalo herds. Jack asks questions and takes notes: The Lakota believe people cannot own land because it belongs to the Great Spirit, and Lakota children learn everywhere rather than in a single school. Grandmother invites them to walk west with the tribe, but Jack says they must head east, toward the sunrise. As they say goodbye, Grandmother tells them to let their thoughts rise as high as the eagle feather, calling it "good medicine," which she explains means a connection to the world of the spirits. Jack and Annie hold up two fingers for "friend" and walk back across the prairie.

Jack reflects sadly that the buffalo and the Lakota way of life will eventually vanish. Annie reassures him that the Great Spirit will always take care of Black Hawk's people. They climb into the tree house, and Jack wishes them home. Annie places the eagle feather next to the pocket watch, making two of four gifts collected. She suggests that Teddy may be connected to White Buffalo Woman, since Teddy disappeared just before the spirit appeared and returned just after she vanished. Jack agrees Teddy may have "good medicine." When they turn around, Teddy has slipped away again, just as he did after their previous mission. Jack pauses in the woods, watches branches wave and birds swoop into the blue sky, and thinks that Grandmother was right: All things are related. He and Annie run home and into their own grandmother's arms, with two gifts still to find.