CLARION BOOKS
ISBN: 978-0-547-55813-4
Hardcover: $16.99

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.

Kitty is one of only two white kids in her class, and the Indian kids are keeping their distance. With time, Kitty becomes increasingly aware of the tensions and prejudices between Indians and whites, and of the past injustice and pain still very much alive on the reservation. Time also brings friendships and opportunities to make a difference. Map, author’s note, glossary, and pronunciation guide.

We’re intrigued — tell us how real life inspired your book!

It’s hard to think of my life as inspiration for historical fiction … but it’s true.  This story is grounded in my childhood experiences living on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in the early 1960′s.  Like Kitty’s dad, mine worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and we moved to Warm Springs from Virginia when I was in the second grade.  I was born on the Colville Reservation and later graduated from high school on the Yakama Reservation, both in Washington state. We also lived across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., where my dad worked for the Department of the Interior.  Kitty’s story of longing and belonging has quite a bit in common with my own.

What was it like growing up on Indian reservations?

That’s a central question that I’ve been asked by other non-Indians my whole life!  And it’s one of the sparks for writing Something to Hold.   Those years at Warm Springs were very formative for me, as the years between seven and eleven are for everyone.  On the one hand, living there was like living in any small community.  Here’s a photo of what was then called the Warm Springs Indian Agency, with my house (and Kitty’s) in the center, and my dad’s office (and hers) just to the right across the alley. A general store (which doubled as the post office, hardware store, and museum) was a block away to the right.  And the grade school where Kitty and I went was not far beyond the left edges of the photo.

But, of course, there were many things unique for me about living at Warm Springs.  My brothers and I were among 17 non-Indian students in the school of around 300.  Until shortly after we moved there, the school was a boarding school — with a long and sometimes painful history similar to boarding and residential schools across the U.S. and Canada in which students were intentionally separated from their families, languages, and cultures.  In 1961, the school opened its doors to all students who lived in the community, tribal members and non-Indians alike.  Although the instruction and curriculum at the school today are culturally relevant, they definitely were not at the time I was a student.  As a child, I didn’t fully appreciate what this meant, but I did know that some of my classmates and I experienced school in strikingly different ways. My evolving awareness of how my Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute classmates were sometimes treated as outsiders on their own land is at the heart of Kitty’s story in Something to Hold.

Kitty really struggles to make friends and fit in — did that also happen to you?

Struggle and conflict are the life blood of a good story. I had to make it hard for Kitty — but thank goodness that’s not what I experienced!  I always felt welcomed and accepted, and I’ve been lucky to maintain ties with people I knew so long ago at Warm Springs.  With very few exceptions, the characters and incidents in the book are entirely fictional, though heavily grounded in universal longings and needs we all share:  to belong, to befriend, to be known.

Oh, please give us the scoop on what’s true and what’s fiction!

OK — a few examples, just between us.  Don’t tell anybody!

Cascade Cooks 4-H club. I'm standing second from the left; Pinky is third from the right.

My family all play cameo roles, as does my good friend from Warm Springs, Pinky.  Meet her in the photo on the left!  Pinky pretty much plays herself in the book — spunky, good-hearted, brave friend to Kitty and to me!  Like Miss Anthony in the book, one of our teachers read the Bible to us every day.  And like Kitty, I accidentally cut my desk with a razor blade during an art project and lived in fear that I’d be found out.   Remembering my own discomfort being “the new kid” was really helpful in writing this book.  But Kitty’s got a much stronger sense of justice than I did at her age — and she finds courage to speak out when I would have been too afraid.

My wish is that readers of all ages will connect with characters in this book who find ways to reach out to each other across their differences, and who help each other live with courage and hope.

Leave a comment to enter to win an autographed copy of Something to Hold!
Winner announced tomorrow, December 6.

Katherine will climb on board the Mixed-Up Files Skype Tour bus this winter — watch for news of the departure date coming soon! Skype Tour FAQ here.

Katherine Schlick Noe teaches beginning and experienced teachers at Seattle University. She is webmaster of the Literature Circles Resource Center.  Something to Hold is her debut novel.  Visit her at http://katherineschlicknoe.com

November New Book Releases:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (Amulet Books) – Jeff Kinney. Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of. The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts he’s going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?

Secrets of the Magic Ring (AmazonEncore) – Karen McQuestion. The eagerly anticipated sequel to Celia and the Fairies!
When nine-year-old Paul explores the hole dug for his backyard swimming pool, he discovers a box containing a ring–a ring that turns out to be magical. Moments later, a mysterious boy shows up demanding the ring; luckily, Paul’s trusty dog, Clem, scares him away. To keep the ring safe, Paul hides it in his pillow case, where, to his horror, it’s discovered by his mother, who loans it to his Aunt Vicky. Things get even stranger when Vicky, a nonswimmer, falls into the now finished pool and discovers that her greatest secret wish has been granted–she can swim! As the ring gets passed around and wishes are made, a wild series of talents and circumstances threaten to turn their lives upside down forever. But Jasmine, a fairy of the woods, has an idea–and if everyone cooperates, she just might be able to put an end to the shenanigans and return
their lives to normal. Wildly original and full of vibrant, chaotic imagination, Secrets of the Magic Ring is proof of the old adage
“Be careful what you wish for.”

Ivy and Bean No News Is Good News – Book 8 (Chronicle Books) – Annie Barrows. Ivy and Bean need some money. Ten dollars, to be exact. Never mind what for. Okay, it s for low-fat Belldeloon cheese in a special just-for you serving size. Don t ask why. How are Ivy and Bean going to make ten dollars? Hey, maybe they should write a newspaper about Pancake Court and sell it! Great idea! And easy, too. All they have to do is snoop around the neighborhood. Wow…It s very interesting what they can find out. It s even more interesting when the neighbors read about it in the newspaper.

How to Train Your Dragon Book 8 (Little Brown Books for Young Readers) – Cressida Cowell. Stranded on the exceptionally dangerous, and possibly haunted, Beach of the Broken Heart, Hiccup must face Ug the Uglithug and complete the Impossible Task–or die trying. Along the way, he’ll have to battle Berserks, dodge Scarers, and save Fishlegs from being fed to the Beast, all while being hunted down by an old enemy with a dark secret about the mysterious Lost Throne. With Toothless by his side, and time to stage his rescue running out, what’s a Hero to do?

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline: An Enola Holmes Mystery (Puffin) – Nancy Springer. Enola’s landlady, Mrs. Tupper, is the closest thing Enola has to family these days, besides her occasional run-ins with her brother Sherlock. Even though Mrs. Tupper is nearly deaf and can barely cook, she’s an endearing presence as Enola longs for her absent mother. So imagine her horror when Enola comes home to find Mrs. Tupper kidnapped! Who would take her, and why? And what does Florence Nightingale have to do with it? From the master of mystery Nancy Springer, here’s another absorbing adventure for our award-winning, unstoppable heroine, Enola Holmes.

The Cats in the Doll Shop (Viking Juvenile) – Yona Zeldis McDonough. When Anna spots a cat in the yard behind her parents’ doll shop, she is excited. Then she realizes the cat is about to have kittens-even better! And Anna has something else to look forward to: her cousin Tania is coming from Russia to stay with Anna’s family. Anna already has two sisters, but she and Tania are the exact same age-eleven-and she imagines they will get along perfectly. But Tania doesn’t respond to Anna’s friendly overtures, and her sisters don’t seem to like Tania at all. Luckily, Anna finds a creative way to use her love of dolls and cats to bring everyone together.

Daisy Dawson and the Big Freeze (Candlewick) – Steve Voake. It’s snowing! And Daisy Dawson couldn’t be happier enjoying the winter weather with all of her animal friends. There are even newborn lambs to meet, including Woolverton, whose curiosity about the world beyond the farmer’s field soon gets him into trouble. When Daisy hears that Woolverton is lost in the woods, she bundles up and, with the farm dog Boom at her side, sets out to find him. In her third adventure, Daisy finds out that no matter how far she travels, she’ll always find her way home. Steve Voake’s gentle tale and Jessica Meserve’s winning illustrations make this a perfect story for a snug winter’s day.

Gooney Bird on the Map (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children) – Lois Lowry. Mrs. Pidgeon’s second grade class has a lot to celebrate in February: presidents’ birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and school vacation. Of course, the students are talking about their awesome vacation plans every chance they get. It can be hard to focus on subtraction problems when you’re heading to Hawaii or Florida in seventeen minus seven days! But most of the class (twelve minus three of them, in fact) will be staying home during vacation.Can Gooney Bird Greene keep spirits up while everyone is feeling down? Gooney Bird has a great idea that sends her classmates and her on a snowy spin through U.S. history and geography!

The Hugo Movie Companion: A Behind the Scenes Look at How a Beloved Book Became a Major Motion Picture (Scholastic Press) – Brian Selznick. Brian Selznick takes readers on an intimate tour of the movie-making process as his Caldecott Award-winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is turned into a 3-D major motion picture by Academy Award-winning director, Martin Scorsese, written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, John Logan. Lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs from the movie, and filled with fun, informative interviews of the cast and crew, comparisons of artwork from the book alongside people, props, costumes, and sets from the movie, plus fascinating information about automatons, and an essay on the birth of movies written by Martin Scorsese, The Hugo Movie Companion beautifully extends the experience of the book and the movie, and is a must-have for fans of all ages.

Poison Apple #8: At First Bite (Scholastic Paperbacks) – Ruth Ames. Ashlee Lambert, the queen bee from THIS TOTALLY BITES, has had a tough time ever since she became a full-fledged vampire. But now that she’s moving from New York City to sunny Los Angeles, she’s excited to make a fresh new start. But Ashlee never counted on a clique of popular mean girls or awful sunburns. Keeping her huge secret is suddenly harder than ever. And when something — or someone — starts attacking people at her school, Ashlee realizes she’s not the only vampire in town. It’s up to Ashlee to figure out who’s behind the attacks before her cover is blown forever!

Scholastic Book of World Records 2012 (Scholastic Paperbacks) – Jenifer Corr Morse. A LOT can change in a year, and the bestselling SCHOLASTIC BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS has been updated to include all the most recent events with a fresh new cover and interior design! Whether kids want to know what the world’s fastest shark is, which country eats the most fast food, who has the most career hits in the MLB, or which state has the largest teddy bear, the SCHOLASTIC BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS 2012 has all of the answers and much, much more! Over the past ten years, kids, parents, and teachers have come to love this kid-friendly book. Each of the 300 records on pop culture, sports, science, and more has its own page that includes a full-color photograph and a detailed description of the record.

Mousenet (Hyperion) – Prudence Breitrose. When ten-year-old Megan helps her uncle invent the Thumbtop, the world’s smallest computer, mice are overjoyed, and they want one for every mouse hole. The Big Cheese, leader of the Mouse Nation, has orders: follow that girl—even if it means high-tailing it to Megan’s new home on the other side of the country. While Megan struggles as the new girl, the mice watch, waiting for their chance. But when they tell Megan the biggest secret in the history of the world—mice have evolved, and they need her help—she isn’t sure anyone will believe her. With all of Mouse Nation behind her, Megan could become the most powerful girl alive, but just how will she create a Thumptop for every mouse? Brought to life with whimsical illustrations, Prudence Breitrose’s debut novel is full of charm and adventure and will captivate today’s computer-savvy middle-graders.

Mason Dixon – Fourth-Grade Disasters (Knopf Books for Young Readers) – Claudia Mills. Here’s the second entry in veteran author
Claudia Mills’ charming middle-grade series, which finds the lovably sardonic title character starting the fourth grade, which he’s dreading: everyone in fourth grade is expected to join the school choir. And sing. In front of everyone. Mason can’t think of many things he enjoys less than singing. But performing in front of other people might come close; Mason devises a foolproof plan that will keep him out of the spotlight on concert night. Of course, in the world of Mason Dixon, there is no such thing as a foolproof plan. There is only disaster.

Wolven Book 2 – The Twilight Circus (The Chicken House) – Di Toft.  Werewolves, vampires, furry little monsters: It’s a three-ring circus of spooky! After dodging mutant werewolves and mad scientists all summer, Nat and Woody have joined the Twilight Circus of Illusion, hoping it might bring them closer to Nat’s fugitive dad or, just maybe, any surviving members of Woody’s long-lost Wolven clan. But instead they end up in a stinking pile of peril! A pair of strange secret agents is sniffing out their every step, while underneath the big top the boys meet a brand-new batty batch of evil: a black widow vampire and her horrifying hive! Will they escape her sticky web so that they can search for the noble Wolven? And now that Nat has Wolven blood, too, how — when?! — is HE about to change? The second book in Di Toft’s fast-paced, funny series about
a boy and his pet werewolf!

I Before E – Except After C: Young Readers Edition (Reader’s Digest Juvenile) – Susan Randol. Just like adults, kids need easy ways to recall stuff-especially now, when they don’t even have to remember a phone number because their cell phones remember it for them. And just like the bestselling i before e (except after c) for adults, this book is jammed with easy-to-use tricks for remembering lots of stuff-especially stuff they need to know for school. Through entertaining (and often silly) examples, kids will learn to remember everything they need to know about: The Earth-including fun facts about geography, geology, and the weather- and the sky -revolving around planets, stars, atmosphere, and so on,  Reading and writing-covering everything from the smallest punctuation mark to the prickliest words to spell to the trickiest grammar to the grandest figure of speech, the mysteries of history-from Way Before You Were Born (ancient history) to the most recent American history facts every kid needs to memorize.

Sucked Under – Monstrum House (Hardie Grant Books) – Z. Fraillon. It’s exam time at Monstrum House, and the top students in Jasper’s
year will be rewarded. They’ll get to hunt a monster that lives at the bottom of the lake and likes to drown people for fun—so, maybe it’s just as well that Jasper hasn’t studied. Life’s never easy when you’re a student at the Monstrum house.

The Witch’s Revenge (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) – D.A. Nelson. Two months after she saved the Eye of Lornish, a large white stone that prevents the magical kingdom of Mor from being discovered, Morag is adjusting to life in the secret northern kingdom. But dark dreams trouble her, and a series of unsolved robberies proves that even with the protection of her friends—Shona the dragon, Bertie the dodo, and Aldiss the rat—Morag is still not safe.

The Winter Pony (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) – Iain Lawrence. In the forests of Siberia, in the first years of the 20th century, a white pony runs free with his herd. But his life changes forever when he’s captured by men. Years of hard work and cruelty wear him out. When he’s chosen to be one of 20 ponies to accompany the Englishman Robert Falcon Scott on his quest to become the first to reach the South Pole, he doesn’t know what to expect. But the men of Scott’s expedition show him kindness, something he’s never known before. They also give him a name—James Pigg. As Scott’s team hunkers down in Antarctica, James Pigg finds himself caught up in one of the greatest races of all time. The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen has suddenly announced that he too means to be first to the Pole. But only one team can triumph, and not everyone can survive—not even the animals.

Circus Galacticus (Harcourt Children’s Books) – Deva Fagan. Trix can deal with being an orphan charity case at a snotty boarding school. She can hold her own when everyone else tells her not to dream big dreams. She can even fight back against the mysterious stranger in a silver mask who tries to steal the meteorite her parents trusted her to protect. But her life is about to change forever. The Circus Galacticus has come to town, bringing acts to amaze, delight, and terrify. And now the dazzling but enigmatic young Ringmaster has offered Trix the chance to be a part of it. SoonTrix discovers an entire universe full of deadly enemies and potential friends, not to mention space leeches, ancient alien artifacts, and exploding chocolate desserts. And she just might unravel the secrets of her own past if she can survive long enough.

Chico’s Challenge: The Story of an American Quarter Horse (Feiwel and Friends) – Jessie Haas. Set in Wyoming, Chico’s Challenge follows a young buckskin quarter horse who is trade to Sierra, a teen who works her father’s ranch and dreams of becoming a
cutting horse champion. Chico seems to have the makings of a great cow horse, but…he has never seen a cow in his life! Can he and Sierra, both novices, learn to work together as a team?