My Name is Not Easy

My Name is Not Easy  by Debby Dahl Edwardson

There are many reasons you will be glad you read MY NAME IS NOT EASY. These reasons will continue to haunt you long after reading the last line.

The voices of five very different children ring clear and strong.  They each share their experiences of life at a boarding school in Alaska during the 1960’s, a school far from their homes above or near the Arctic Circle.

Debby Edwardson lets you experience the beauty of land, sky, ocean and people of this northern terrain. Edwardson’s descriptions of rural Alaska as well as boarding-school life puts you right in the power and majesty of a land most of us have not seen, tasted or heard.

The main story is told by Luke and it is his Inupiaq experience of leaving his home near the Arctic Circle in 1960 to journey with his two younger brothers to the Sacred Heart School. His story is based on the author’s husband’s memories of boarding school. Both the positive and negative aspects of being away from home at such a young age are shown to the reader. Each of the five students show us a different aspect of being a boarding school, coping with loneliness and prejudice, injustice and punishment. Edwardson’s skill with dialogue and character create empathy and compassion.

Information woven throughout the story builds an awareness of the injustices caused by individuals as well as institutions, including the U.S. government.  Children became victims of scientific research in which children were forced to ingest radioactive iodine. A silent program involved abducting children sent to school for kindergarten only to have them disappear forever into a secret adoption program. Readers will be surprised to realize that these injustices continued well into the 1960s.
About Debby Dahl Edwardson’s writing:
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.
MY NAME IS NOT EASY is a 2011 National Book Award Finalist.

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