There are no easy life choices for Carson, Maggi, and Lewis as their lives intersect on their reservation.Carson has glory-filled dreams of getting off the reservation by winning a bandcompetition yet has a hard time being committed to the work needed for theidea to succeed. He also wishes that Maggi, who has moved back from the city,will give his budding first-love feelings a chance. Although Maggi finds the bandfun and Carson a great friend, she is committed to exploring what arelationship would look like with white 30-year-old Jim, who is heavily pursuing heraffections. Though the characters are struggling personally, they are all unitedagainst a restaurant called Custer's Last Stand, and soon the community members come together tomake their own stand against a racist restaurant owner who proudly display his"No Indians" sign. Readers will find a continuing cast of characters fromGansworth's If I Ever Get Out of Here (2013) while also getting amusic-laced perspective of young, contemporary Native Americans' struggles.

A 1980s Native American coming-of-age story grapples with the day-to-day details of teenagers' lives on and off the reservation.Wannabe musician Carson Mastick is approaching his senior year of high school, vacillating about whether to stay at home on the Tuscarora Reservation in upstate New York or pursue his dream of using his band as a way to get out. Fifteen-year-old Magpie Bokoni is dealing with the opposite situation: Her mother, who sells traditional souvenirs to tourists, decides to uproot the family from the city and move them back to the reservation. Magpie joins Carson's band as a way of settling back into rez life, and her love for the Beatles, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono is infused throughout the story. While Magpie's sister, Marie, is secretly dating an older guy she calls "Mystery Man," Magpie is dating her co-worker at the garage, a 30-year-old white man (although her conscience wrestles with the illegal relationship). As they gear up for the Battle of the Bands competition, Carson leads the group in an impromptu protest of a Gen. Custer-themed restaurant located just off the reservation, run by a racist man who shot and injured Carson's brother. As Carson's and Magpie's lives—narrated in alternating chapters—intersect, their stories will capture a wide audience.A classic teen novel, especially for Native youth and Beatles fans. (Fiction. 14-adult)

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. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (June)