Paul Goble, born September 27, 1933, in Haslemere, England, developed a lifelong fascination with American Indian traditions beginning in childhood, inspired by stories his mother read to him. After growing up in Oxford and studying furniture design at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, he first visited the United States in 1959 and spent many summers on reservations, deepening his understanding of Native cultures and eventually being adopted by Lakota and Yakima people. Moving to the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1977, Goble created more than 30 books based largely on traditional Lakota, Cheyenne, and Blackfoot stories, including the Caldecott Medal–winning The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses. He described his work as a way to share the “wonderful things” he learned from Native Americans. Goble passed away on January 5, 2017.

 

Front Cover Image Description: The illustration shows a person wrapped in a patterned shawl standing among colorful flowers and rocks, looking out over a wide green valley filled with white tipi-like forms. Birds fly across a layered sky with soft horizontal clouds, and pronghorn antelope appear in the foreground.

 

Back Cover Image Description: An illustration of pronghorn antelope in a field of flowers and rocks, overlooking a wide valley with white tipi-like shapes and distant hills under a cloud-filled sky. Above the illustration is printed text describing the book’s theme and a brief note about the author, Paul Goble.

 

Paul Goble has written about Beyond the Ridge:
“The concept of the long climb of someone who is dying is one which we can understand. You walk gradually, and seemingly endlessly, upwards to a distant ridge. The view from the top will simply take your breath away… This is a vision of that other land Beyond the Ridge.”

“A wholly original picture book.”
— Starred, Booklist

Paul Goble lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. His many wonderful books for children include the Caldecott Award–winning The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, Buffalo Woman, and Star Boy, all available from Aladdin.