My Name Is Not Easy - 9781477816295

Luke knows his I´nupiaq name is full of soundswhite people can’t say. He knows he’ll have toleave it behind when he and his brothers are sentto boarding school hundreds of miles from theirArctic village.At Sacred Heart School things are different.Instead of family, there are students — Eskimo,Indian, White — who line up on different sides ofthe cafeteria like there’s some kind of war goingon. And instead of comforting words like tutu and maktak, there’s English. Speaking I´nupiaq — or any native language — is forbidden. And FatherMullen, whose fury is like a force of nature, isready to slap down those who disobey.Luke struggles to survive at Sacred Heart. Buthe’s not the only one. There’s smart-aleck Amiq, a daring leader — if he doesn’t self destruct; Chickie, blond and freckled, a different kind of outsider; and small quiet Junior, noticing everything and writing it all down. Each has their own story to tell. But once their separate stories come together, things at Sacred Heart School — and in the wider world — will never be the same.