I enjoyed it up until the ending which I felt kind of fell flat compared to the rest of the book. ( )

Publisher's overview:
Seventh-grader Lewis "Shoe" Blake from the Tuscarora Reservation has a new friend, George Haddonfield from the local Air Force base, but in 1975 upstate New York, there is a lot of tension and hatred between Native Americans and Whites -- and Lewis is not sure that he can rely on friendship.

Gansworth wrote a heartfelt view of a native teenager in a white-dominated middle-grade classroom. The story brings forward valuable insights to "life on the rez": unvarnished, realistic, and searingly unfair. The dynamics between having a white friend as your first true best-friend in a culture where such relationships are derided and native Americans ridiculed were poignant and in the end, rather sad. However, the novel was well-worth reading, though philosophically more relevant for adults and older teens, rather than a middle-grade audience. ( )

I found this book a little hard to get into, and then impossible to put down. Lewis is growing up on the rez in the 1970s. Really, the crux of the story is that Lewis is living on the rez, and going to school in the gifted class off reservation. He lives an isolated life, finding comfort only in music, until a boy transfers in and won’t let the idea of friendship go.

Lewis’ struggle to remain true to himself and find a way to interact with the off-reservation world makes for a hard read, but an inspiring one. He is a fierce and intelligent, difficult, lonely boy, who takes a stand when he needs to, regardless of the cost. ( )

Lewis “Shoe” Blake lives on the Tuscarora Reservation in upstate New York in 1975, at a time when tensions exist between Native Americans and whites. His friendship with a boy from the Air Force base is difficult and often strained. Discography

Lewis Blake is a Tuscarora Indian living on a reservation near Buffalo, New York, in 1976. His family is very poor and he is the only Native kid in the advanced class at school, making him friendless and the target of a vicious bully. Things can for the better when a military kid, George, becomes his best friend. Music plays a big role in their lives, especially the Beatles and Queen, and the chapters are lyrics from their songs. Lewis fears George and his family will reject him and tells various lies about why they cannot visit until a blizzard forces them together. Slow at the beginning, sappy at some points, and sad at the end. ( )