Young Ray struggles with balancing her new friends on the mainland with the traditions of her people back home on the island in this compelling portrayal of a Native American family coexisting with white society while retaining its own traditions (Kirkus Reviews). On Rayanne Sunipasss birthday, her father gives her a big box of crayons to soften the blow that he is leaving their home on Two Rivers Island in Maine. Struggling to adjust to the changes, Ray and her mother pack up and move to Grams small apartment on the mainland. Suddenly, everything is different. Nobody at Rays school is like her and with her mother working long hours, Gram becomes her only link to their native Wabanaki traditions. Without any idea of if her father will return, Ray is lost and lonely, even as she makes new friends on the mainland. But there is one thing she knows for certain: someday shell return to the island and to all the familiar things shes left behind.

 

 

This book is aimed at children at US 3rd grade-7th grade.

This book has been graded for interest at 8-12 years.

There are 132 pages in this book. This book was published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster .