My Name Is Not Easy

My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson is a novel within the young adult and historical fiction genres. This work explores the history of forced Native American assimilation by the larger government and society of the United States of America. It is split into four parts and divided into the first-person narratives of several different students. The novel setting is a fictional boarding school called Sacred Heart. My Name is Not Easy exposes the rampant racism, white supremacy, and abuse that Indigenous children experienced at residential schools in the 1960s.

Debby Dahl Edwardson is an American author of young adult fiction. She lives in Alaska and writes about the history and experiences of the people there. My Name is Not Easy received a National Book Award nomination. It is Dahl Edwardson’s third novel.

This guide is based on the following edition: My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson, published by Times Publishing (2010).

Content Warning: The following guide includes summaries and analyses of physical abuse, racism, grief, trauma, alcoholism, and child abuse. It uses the term “Eskimo” because the source material employs this term throughout the narrative.