Something to Hold

It's 1962, and Kitty's father, who works for the government, has been assigned to an Indian reservation in Oregon. All the teachers at Kitty's new school are white; the other kids are nearly all Indian. In addition to the discomfort of being new and in the minority, Kitty faces active hostility from the other students. She sees at first hand how widespread, and how deep, race prejudice goes in the community, and even within her own mind and heart.With the passage of time, she comes to understand that different groups have their own versions of the history she has learned in school, and that the "discovery" of America took place long before the whites arrived. Friendships and allegiances, mischief, baseball, mourning, humiliation, the courage to stand up against injustice and the desperate struggle to survive a forest fire--all are woven into the compelling account of Kitty's growing season at Warm Springs. Based on the author's childhood experiences, at a time when the civil rights movement was just beginning, this is a fresh look at age-old transitions: coming of age and coming home. Includes Author's Note.