Something to Hold
Clarion Books 2011

It's 1962 and Kitty has just turned eleven when Dad's government job moves the family all the way across the country to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon. She knows how to be "the new kid," but it's a whole new kind of starting over this time.

At first the Indian kids are standoffish, even hostile. Despite her discomfort, Kitty notices how some white people, including the teachers, treat them with casual contempt. As she gets to know her classmates and to glimpse their rich heritage, Kitty comes to respect their strength and generosity that some around her ignore.

Friendships and allegiances, mischief, baseball, mourning, humiliation, the courage to speak out against injustice -- all are woven into Kitty's growing season at Warm Springs.

Something to Hold is inspired by my childhood experiences living on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon.

Read the story behind Something to Hold!

Awards
2015 Sasquatch Award Nominee
Washington Library Media Association

2015 Jefferson County Community Read selection
Jefferson County, Oregon

2014 Hood River County Reads youth selection
Hood River County, Oregon

2012 Washington State Book Award
for middle grade/young adult

2012 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
National Council for the Social Studies and the Children's Book Council

Reviews
"Kitty's discoveries and ethical dilemmas are age-and era-appropriate, the characters affectionately portrayed, rounded individuals."--Kirkus