Summary

It is September 5, 1960, and a 12-year-old boy thinks that he will be called Luke when he goes away to Sacred Heart boarding school because his native Inupiaq name is too hard for white people to pronounce. Luke waits with his younger brothers, Bunna who is ten and Issaac who is six, at home to hear the plane that will take them to the Catholic school. Their Uncle Joe is cleaning his gun and their Aaka (grandma) eats maktak (whale blubber). Their mother is making tea for their Aapa (grandpa). The family lives on the Alaskan tundra far from civilization and Luke is apprehensive about going away to school in a place he's never seen. The boys' mother's...