From the acclaimed author of Code Talker comes a story of identity, strength, and the power of friendship.

It’s 1932, and twelve-year-old Cal Black and his pop have been riding the rails for a year after losing their farm in the Great Depression. Cal likes being a “knight of the road” with Pop, even if they’re broke. But then Pop has to go to Washington, D.C.—and Cal can’t go with him. So Pop tells Cal something he never
knew before: He’s a Creek Indian, which means Cal is, too. And Pop has decided to send Cal to a government boarding school for Native Americans in Oklahoma called the Challagi school.

The conditions at school are harsh and miserable, but other Creek boys there quickly take Cal under their wings, teaching him about his people’s history, heritage, language, and customs in spite of the rules of the school. Most of all, he learns how to find strength in a group of friends who have only one another.