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Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:A boy discovers his Native American heritage in this Depression-era tale of identity and friendship by the author of Code Talker It's 1932, and twelve-year-old Cal Black and his Pop have been riding the rails for years after losing their farm in the Great Depression. Cal likes being a "knight of the road" with Pop, even if they're broke. But then Pop has to go to Washington, DCâ??some of his fellow veterans are marching for their government checks, and Pop wants to make sure he gets his dueâ??and Cal can't go with him. So Pop tells Cal something he never knew before: Pop is actually a Creek Indian, which means Cal is too. And Pop has decided to send Cal to a government boarding school for Native Americans in Oklahoma called the Challagi School. At school, the other Creek boys quickly take Cal under their wings. Even in the harsh, miserable conditions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, he begins to learn about his people's history and heritage. He learns their language and customs. And most of all, he learns how to find strength in a group of friends who have nothing beyond each… (more)
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There's so much in this story that is sensitively portrayed -- from the appalling treatment of WWI veterans, to the change that their march on Washington ultimately caused, to the different struggles of characters based on their race. I think it's a particularly apt choice in time to write about, given recent history in the US -- a reminder of how much has not changed, but also a reminder of the power in social unrest to effect change.