Give Me Some Truth

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. [em]Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (June) [/em]