Give Me Some Truth

Carson Mastick is entering his senior year of high school and desperate to make his mark, on the reservation and off. A rock band — and winning Battle of the Bands — is his best shot. But things keep getting in the way. Small matters like the lack of an actual band, or his brother getting shot by the racist owner of a local restaurant. Maggi Bokoni has just moved back to the reservation with her family. She's dying to stop making the same traditional artwork her family sells to tourists (conceptual stuff is cooler), stop feeling out of place in her new (old) home, and stop being treated like a child. She might like to fall in love for the first time too. Carson and Maggi — along with their friend Lewis — will navigate loud protests, even louder music, and first love in this stirring novel about coming together in a world defined by difference.

"Gansworth's follow-up to If I Ever Get Out of Here has an incredible voice.... His characters are rich, well developed, and will stay with readers for a long time.... A stellar choice for YA realistic fiction shelves." — School Library Journal

"Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, always heartfelt." — Jeff Zentner, author of The Serpent King

"Gansworth vividly captures the difficulties of reservation life and showcases his thoughtful protagonists' multidimensional interests and far-reaching aspirations." — Publishers Weekly

"An intimate look at the teens' lives.... A rich, honest story of family and friends, of a Nation within a nation." — The Horn Book

"From the first pages of If I Ever Get Out of Here, Dog Street was as alive to me as my own street and the people were as alive as my own. And when I finished, Dog Street sustained itself in my head as an ongoing place. I was so happy to have more time in a world that has become so alive to me. This book, Give Me Some Truth, teleported me in. I know I read it too fast. But it was like seeing the cousins you love at the picnic, how you just run to them. How you just want to hear everything." — Lynda Barry, author of The Good Times Are Killing Me and One! Hundred! Demons!

"A stunning and powerful story about kids on the edge and what it means to break free of tradition and expectations. This book should be on every high school reading list." — Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces