Customer Reviews

My Name Is Not Easy

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I am posting this because Amazon has no information about this book, not even a summary. This is the summary from the National Book Foundation page on the nominees for the 2011 National Book Award Finalists in Young People's Literature:

ABOUT THE BOOK

Luke knows his Iñupiaq name is full of sounds white people can't 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, students--Eskimo, Indian, White--line up on different sides of the cafeteria like there's some kind of war going on. Here, speaking Iñupiaq--or any native language--is 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 he'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. They each have their own story to tell. But once their separate stories come together, things at Sacred Heart School--and the wider world--will never be the same.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Debby Dahl Edwardson grew up in Minnesota, where she spent summers at her family cabin on an island in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. She earned a BA from Colorado College, attended Nansenskolen in Norway, and has lived for over thirty years in Barrow, the northernmost community in Alaska. She earned an MFA from Vermont College in 2005. Debby and her husband George have seven children. Her picture book, Whale Snow (Charlesbridge, 2003), was named to the IRA Notable Books for a Global Society and the CBC/NSST lists and was named Best Picture Book by IPPY. Her first novel, Blessing's Bead (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009) was selected by the Junior Library Guild and named to the IRA Notable Books for a Global Society, ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, and Booklist's Top 10 First Novels for Youth lists."

The most powerful stories have qualities that are unique and universal. Debby Dahl Edwardson's MY NAME IS NOT EASY is such a story. In some ways, it is a classic boarding school story, and in others it is uniquely Alaskan. Edwardson draws characters from distinct backgrounds and cultures and throws them together in a strict Catholic boarding school where they clash and bond and grow together. There is heartbreaking loss, there is new love, and there is a growing understanding of the importance of standing up for what you believe in and the power of civil disobedience. Edwardson's lyrical prose draws the reader in to the landscape and culture of northern Alaska, a world that is foreign to most of us. Yet she does it in a way that is not preachy or didactic. She evokes a world that is in transition yet holding on to and respecting its traditions. The characters through whom she tells this tale are richly drawn, and their voices are strong. Their pain is real, as is their joy. In the end, I breathed a sigh of relief, but I also felt a strong sense of loss. I didn't want to leave this place and these lives. I wanted to know what happened next. But, as the best writers do, Edwardson has left that to the reader to ponder and to understand. MY NAME IS NOT EASY is a special book by a talented writer who provides a window into a world so different from my own, and yet not so different after all.

Told through the eyes of four different youth, "My Name Is Not Easy" is a historical fiction piece that will resonate with todays youth. The plot is centered around an Inupiaq Eskimo boy who has two names - his Inupiaq name is difficult for white people to pronounce, and his other name is Luke. Luke and his siblings are sent from their home above the Arctic Circle to a Catholic boarding school 60 miles from Anchorage. The story takes place during the 1960s. The school is full of mostly Eskimo and Indian children, from many different villages. A few white children are also at the school. Ethnic tensions, torn apart families, and struggles with identity are the main themes of the book. These are some of the same issues that young adults throughout the US will be able to identify with.

The author was inspired for this story by her husbands life. Dahl-Edwardson married into Inupiaq culture. The historical events referenced in the story were well researched. This book could be used in grades 7-12 classrooms to learn about Alaskan history and culture.

I personally enjoyed reading the book, feeling as though the characters were very much like the some of the people I have met while living in Alaska. It is really easy to see why Dahl-Edwardson is up for some presitgious book awards.

I was loaned this book by an intelligent physical therapist after I broke my collarbone. After a few sessions with her, she saw my interest in learning about my new home, Alaska.

The prose is unique, and direct. While reading the story, you are given glimpses into the minds of the characters.

The book may be considered a "young adult" novel by some. Isn't that what you want to be: a young adult?

I was surprised that I - this non-Alaskan 50 year old male - was so drawn into this story. However, I am now in Alaska 15 months, far from Anchorage, and I am beginning to understand the unique story of Alaska. Beautiful Land, echoes of social failures, challenges to manage our resources.

Read it.

This book has sharpened my perspective on the lives of our Native people who have had the opportunity to experience the Indian Boarding school system. My father went to Boarding school in Chemawa, Oregon but never really spoke of his experiences. I envy those who did attend, even in this day and age. Through that experience were they able to learn to be independent at an early age. Of course, my stomach turns when the book talks about the radioactive liquids the students were made to drink.

This book is a gem! An eye opener for those who never had the opportunity to experience or understand the Era of the Indian Boarding school system.

My Name is Not Easy is a must-read. I heard author Edwardson read its Epilogue at a writing conference this summer and the book exceeded my high expectations. The story concerns what happens when different Alaskan native cultures come together at a parochial boarding school in the early sixties to contend with the unfamiliar Catholic establishment and even the unfamiliar interior landscape. Not even have these kids not contended with nuns and priests and Catholicism before, some of them are from the tundra region and have never seen woods. The students eventually bond together to promote their common interests and help each other overcome tragedy. The book is both heartbreaking and at times, very funny. The novel is set in the context of real events and loosely based on real stories, and this historical dimension makes the book even richer.

Edwardson masterfully uses multiple voices to portray the experiences of boys and girls from such different cultures. Luke, from Arctic Alaska, is the main voice and he is a striking character with an amazing strength, spirit, and patience. His character is one for the ages, as in, Holden who? In fact, I slowed down at the end of the novel, not wanting to leave its world. I shouldn't have worried, as it's been two weeks and Luke and his Alaska are very much with me.

Once you start reading Debby Dahl Edwardson's My Name is Not Easy, your heart will begin beating to the rhythms of her prose. Your soul will be tied to the fates of her characters, Luke, Chickie, Bunna, Amiq, and Sonny. This is a heart-wrenching story, full of strength and love. It is a story of survival and of the power of knowing -TRULY knowing where you come from. A powerful book from a a wonderful writer whose work I am grateful to have been introduced to when we were both students at Vermont College.