9781338143546 |
1338143549 |
Available:*
Library | Material Type | Call Number | Shelf Location | Status | Item Holds |
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Searching... Penrose Library | Teen Book | GANS | Teen Fiction | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
NPR Best Books of the Year * Boston Globe Best Books of the Year * School Library Journal Best Books of the Year * Chicago Public Library Best Books of the YearA powerful new book from Eric Gansworth, author of If I Ever Get Out of Here, that speaks the truth on race, relationships, and rock from two unforgettable perspectives.Carson Mastick is entering his senior year of high school and desperate to make his mark, on the reservation and off. A rock band -- and winning Battle of the Bands -- is his best shot. But things keep getting in the way. Small matters like the lack of an actual band, or his brother getting shot by the racist owner of a local restaurant.Maggi Bokoni has just moved back to the reservation with her family. She's dying to stop making the same traditional artwork her family sells to tourists (conceptual stuff is cooler), stop feeling out of place in her new (old) home, and stop being treated like a child. She might like to fall in love for the first time too.Carson and Maggi -- along with their friend Lewis -- will navigate loud protests, even louder music, and first love in this stirring novel about coming together in a world defined by difference.
Author Notes
Eric Gansworth is Lowery Writer-in-Residence and Professor of English at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, and was recently NEH Distinguished Visiting Professor at Colgate University. An enrolled Onondaga, he was born and raised at the Tuscarora Indian Nation, just outside Niagara Falls, New York. His debut novel for young readers, If I Ever Get Out of Here , was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick and an American Indian Library Association Young Adult Honor selection, and he is the author of numerous acclaimed books for adults. Eric is also a visual artist, generally incorporating paintings as integral elements into his written work. His work has been widely shown and anthologized and has appeared in Iroquois Art: Power and History , The Kenyon Review , and Shenandoah , among other places, and he was recently selected for inclusion in Lit City , a Just Buffalo Literary Center public arts project celebrating Buffalo's literary legacy. Please visit his website at ericgansworth.com.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Carson is a senior in high school. He loves his Chevelle, his imperfect family, and music. He dreams of starting his own band with his friend Lewis, whom he treats horribly, because Lewis lets him. Maggi has just moved back to the Rez after living in the projects in the city with her mother and sister for seven years. She's 15 and works with her family selling beaded work to tourists from a script her mother wrote for her to recite when she was a little girl. She dreams of creating her own high-concept art, but life at the fictionalized Tuscarora Nation reservation and the lack of modern conveniences of their home are taking its toll on Maggi. Carson and Maggi seem to have an instant attraction, but Carson soon discovers that Maggi has embarked on a relationship with 31-year-old Jim, a white man who works with her on her job who is not quite as nice as he may seem. Gansworth's follow-up to If I Ever Get Out of Here has an incredible voice. Told in alternating perspectives, this novel places readers right at the center of young adult lives in a reservation on the outskirts of Niagara Falls. His characters are rich, well developed, and will stay with readers for a long time. Lovers of his debut novel and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie will fall in love with this incredibly written -novel. VERDICT A stellar choice for YA realistic fiction shelves.-Christina Vortia, Hype Lit, Land O'Lakes, FL © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Gansworth returns to the setting of his 2013 novel, If I Ever Get Out of Here-the Tuscarora Nation reservation in New York. It's 1980, and high school senior Carson Mastick reasons that, if he can get a band together, he can win the local Battle of the Bands and get off the reservation. But a racist store owner has just shot Carson's brother, his shy guitarist is wavering, and he needs something to make the band stand out. When 15-year-old Maggi moves back to the "Rez," Carson thinks she might be just the answer, for him and for the band. In alternating chapters, Carson and Maggi narrate this story of racism, bullying, protests, the complications of figuring out what love and friendship mean, and world-opening music, particularly that of the Beatles and John Lennon. Gansworth, who accentuates the book with his drawings, is interested in identity: 17-year-old Carson (light-skinned and thus what he calls a "ChameleIndian") and his friends live within a Native American community, but they work and attend school off the reservation, and Maggi, who gets involved with a much older white guy, is an artist, but what she can make is limited by what tourists will buy. Gansworth vividly captures the difficulties of reservation life and showcases his thoughtful protagonists' multidimensional interests and far-reaching aspirations. Ages 14-up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
There are no easy life choices for Carson, Maggi, and Lewis as their lives intersect on their reservation. Carson has glory-filled dreams of getting off the reservation by winning a bandcompetition yet has a hard time being committed to the work needed for theidea to succeed. He also wishes that Maggi, who has moved back from the city,will give his budding first-love feelings a chance. Although Maggi finds the bandfun and Carson a great friend, she is committed to exploring what arelationship would look like with white 30-year-old Jim, who is heavily pursuing heraffections. Though the characters are struggling personally, they are all unitedagainst a restaurant called Custer's Last Stand, and soon the community members come together tomake their own stand against a racist restaurant owner who proudly display his No Indians sign. Readers will find a continuing cast of characters fromGansworth's If I Ever Get Out of Here (2013) while also getting amusic-laced perspective of young, contemporary Native Americans' struggles.--Bratt, Jessica Anne Copyright 2010 Booklist