Eagle Feather

I owned this book when I was a child and so when I spotted a copy in a used bookstore I had to buy it. Eagle Feather is a ten-year old Navaho boy living on a reservation. Eagle Feather, his mother, father and younger brother and sister live in a one-room hogan and herd sheep and goats. They barely survive and live a day's horseback ride from the nearest trading post. Eagle Feather's responsibility is to watch over their flock during the day. One day when his father is planning a trip to the trading post, Eagle Feather is allowed to go along. While there he meets other Indian boys and when he wins a footrace, is given a sack of candy as a reward. It is there that he learns about the school, one of the boys talks to the teacher and is allowed to show Eagle Feather the inside of the school building. In his tour of the classrooms and the quarters where the students live, he realizes that he is missing out on many opportunities. After they get back to their hogan, his cousin Crook Nose, who wants Eagle Feather to work for him during the summer, visits Eagle Feather's family. At first Eagle Feather refuses, but when Crook Nose's truck is damaged and Eagle Feather is responsible, he has no choice. Crook Nose and his wife Round Woman mistreat Eagle Feather and eventually he runs away. He manages to get back to his family hogan, only to find none of them are home. The only person there is Crook Nose, waiting to take him back. Fortunately, Eagle Feather's father has gone to get him and when he sees how gaunt Eagle Feather is, he takes him away and informs him that he will be allowed to go to school. The message her of poverty in the Indian nation is a powerful one, largely because it is subtlety delivered. Eagle Feather is a typical boy, wanting to play and learn and be like other boys.