My Name Is Not Easy

From the 2011 National Book Award Finalist Debby Dahl Edwardson, My Name is Not Easy.

My name is not easy. My name is hard like ocean ice grinding the shore . . . Luke knows his Iupiaq name is full of sounds white people cant say. So he leaves it behind when he and his brothers are sent to boarding school hundreds of miles away from their Arctic village. At Sacred Heart School, studentsEskimo, Indian, Whiteline up on different sides of the cafeteria like theres some kind of war going on. Here, speaking Iupiaqor any native languageis forbidden. And Father Mullen, whose fury is like a force of nature, is ready to slap down those who disobey. Luke struggles to survive at Sacred Heart. But hes not the only one. Theres smart-aleck Amiq, a daring leader if he doesnt self-destruct; Chickie, blond and freckled, a different kind of outsider; and small, quiet Junior, noticing everything and writing it all down. They each have their own story to tell. But once their separate stories come together, things at Sacred Heart Schooland the wider worldwill never be the same.