The Bone Wars
The Judith River Badlands region of Montana, 1874 - 1878: To the southeast, Native Americans and the United States government battle over the Black Hills, sacred land of the Sioux. In the Badlands, the bone hunters are at war: paleontologists who slander, steal from, and spy on one another for the glory of science.
It's the Great Bone Wars, and into this gaudy landscape, Newbery Honor Book author Kathryn Lasky thrusts two valiant boys, the orphaned American, Thaddeus Longsworth, and the pampered English aristocrat, Julian DeMott
A hunter and expert tracker at fourteen, Thad signs on as scout into the Black Hills for the fossil-finding expedition of Professor George Babcock and under the protection of General George Armstrong Custer. Thad's experiences in the sacred hills bring him closer to his friends, the Lakota Sioux, but when Babcock ventures into the Judith River Badlands, Thad discovers his true purpose in life.
In the Badlands, Thad teams up with Julian, son of a world-famous paleontologist. Together they form a revolutionary plan: to excavate the bones of a mighty dinosaur, not for the snobbish elite of science to study, but for the whole world to see.