There Is No Shortage of Dime Novels about Buffalo Bill

There is no shortage of dime novels about Buffalo Bill. Members of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s education department can attest to this after reading dime novels by local students.

Imagination, creativity, adventure, and exaggeration! These words epitomize the students’ reaction to a recent program at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Back in February over 300 3^rd – 5^th grade students from Cody and Powell, WY attended our annual Buffalo Bill’s Birthday Museum Adventure. During the program, students learned about printing presses, telegraphs, newspapers, and dime novels during William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody’s lifetime. The theme recurring throughout the two-day program was COMMUNICATION.

Dime Novels Contest

The result of students’ communication – there is no shortage of these novels about Buffalo Bill. Students communicated by writing and illustrating their own outrageous and quirky stories about Buffalo Bill. After learning that historic dime novels exaggerated stories about Buffalo Bill, much like tall tales, they took pencil to paper and created their own stories.

These budding authors went back to their classroom, finished their masterpieces, and over half of them submitted their stories into our Dime Novels Contest. As we judged their stories and illustrations, we were amazed at their humor and ability to think so outside the box. Here are some of the winners’ stories. I hope they tickle your funny bone as much as they did ours! After all, there is no shortage of dime novels about Buffalo Bill.