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Advance Praise for My Name Is Not Easy
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DEBBY DAHL EDWARDSON
has lived at the northern most tip of North
My name is not easy. My name is hard like
America in Barrow, Alaska, for over thirty years.
ocean ice grinding at the shore or wind
She married into the Ińupiaq community and
“Haunting and deftly composed.…With fi erce love and fi rst-hand pounding the tundra…
most of what she writes about is set within this
culture. It’s not the culture she was born into, but knowledge, Edwardson brings beautiful, harrowing, courageous lives Luke knows his Ińupiaq name is full of sounds
it’s the one she feels she belongs to in every sense along the Arctic Ocean to readers.”
white people can’t say. He knows he’ll have to
of the word. While My Name is Not Easy is fi ction,
—Howard Norman, author of What Is Left the Daughter
leave it behind when he and his brothers are sent
it was inspired by real stories from a number of
to boarding school hundreds of miles from their
boarding schools that once operated throughout
“Here is a book from the far North that shows a diff erent, and equally Arctic village.
Alaska.
important side of the Civil Rights Movement.…Th
e words soar off the
page and then, beautifully bring us home.”
At Sacred Heart School things are diff erent.
Blessing’s Bead, her debut novel, was chosen by
—Helen Frost, author of Crossing Stones
Instead of family, there are students—Eskimo,
Booklist as one of the Top Ten First Novels for Indian, White—who line up on diff erent sides of
Youth and a Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth
“An extraordinary tale of love, betrayal, and above all, survival.…Th is
the cafeteria like there’s some kind of war going
title in 2010. It was also selected an International is a novel that, like landscape, marks a reader’s soul forever.”
on. And instead of comforting words like tutu and Reading Association Notable Book for a Global
—Ellen Levine, author of Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights
maktak, there’s English. Speaking Ińupiaq—or Society and an American Library Association Best
Activists Tell Th
eir Own Story
any native language—is forbidden. And Father
Book for Young Adults. Visit her online at:
Mullen, whose fury is like a force of nature, is
www.debbydahledwardson.com
“My Name Is Not Easy brought me to tears as I remembered the ready to slap down those who disobey.
loneliness and confusion I felt when I left my own home in Arctic Alaska for boarding school.…Th
is young adult novel evokes a time
Luke struggles to survive at Sacred Heart. But
and place in the Alaska Native world that is important to remember.”
he’s not the only one. Th
ere’s smart-aleck Amiq, a
Jacket design by Alex Ferrari
—William L. Iggiagruk Hensley, author of Fifty Miles from Tomorrow:
daring leader—if he doesn’t self destruct; Chickie, Jacket photograph credit © 2011 istockphoto/Phil Date
A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People
blond and freckled, a diff erent 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.
www.marshallcavendish.us/kids
Ages 12 up
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M A R S H A L L C A V E N D I S H
my name is n ot easy final text_.indd i
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Text copyright © 2011 by Debby Dahl Edwardson
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Request for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown, NY 10591. Tel: (914) 332-8888, fax: (914) 332-1888. Web site: www.marshallcavendish.us/kids
Th
is book is a work of fi ction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used fi ctitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Other Marshall Cavendish Offi
ces: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196 • Marshall Cavendish International (Th ailand) Co Ltd. 253 Asoke,
12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Th ailand • Marshall Cavendish
(Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Edwardson, Debby Dahl.
My name is not easy / by Debby Dahl Edwardson. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Alaskans Luke, Chickie, Sonny, Donna, and Amiq relate their experiences in the early 1960s when they are forced to attend a Catholic boarding school where, despite diff erent tribal affi liations, they come to
fi nd a sort of family and home.
ISBN 978-0-7614-5980-4 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-7614-6091-6 (ebook) 1. Indians of North America—Alaska--Juvenile fi ction. 2.
Alaska—History—1959—Juvenile fi ction. [1. Indians of North America—Alaska—Fiction. 2. Alaska—History—1959—Fiction. 3.
Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 4. Catholic schools—Fiction. 5. Boarding schools—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.E2657My 2011
[Fic]—dc22
2011002108
“Unchained Melody” lyrics by Hy Zaret, music by Alex North,
© 1955 (Renewed) FRANK MUSIC CORP. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
Book design by Alex Ferrari
Editor: Melanie Kroupa
Printed in China (E)
First edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For Saganna—George L. Edwardson,
who taught me to see the world through his eyes.
It’s a good world.
“Oh, only for so short a while you have loaned us to each other.
Because we take form in your act of drawing us, And we take life in your painting us,
And we breathe in your singing us.
But only for so short a while have you loaned us to each other.”
—Father’s Aztec Prayer
my name is
