A review by mindfullibrarian
Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith

4.0

A quiet, short YA story about 14 yo Rain and her healing process after the death of her best friend. The other main story line is Rain grappling with her Native heritage on her (deceased) mother’s side of her family and growing up as one of the only Native American kids in a small town. This book was originally published in 2001 and was re-released in 2021 by Heartdrum, an imprint dedicated to children’s literature by Indigenous authors. Should you decide to read it, please find the 2021 edition as the author did line edits to change some race, gender, and ability related language. The new cover is much better too.