Family relationships are never simple. But Sherman Alexie's bond with his mother, Lillian, was more complex than most. She plunged her family into chaos with a drinking habit, but shed her addiction when it was on the brink of costing her everything. She survived a violent past, but created an elaborate facade to hide the truth. She wanted a better life for her son, but it was only by leaving her behind that he could hope to achieve it. When she passed away, the incongruities that defined his mother shook Sherman and his remembrance of her. Grappling with the haunting ghosts of the past in the wake of loss, he responded the only way he knew how: he wrote.

Included in this collection of new and classic stories by Sherman Alexie are some of his most esteemed tales, including “What You Pawn I Will Redeem," “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” “The Toughest Indian in the World” and “War Dances.” His new stories are about donkey basketball leagues, lethal wind turbines, the reservation, marriage, and all species of contemporary American warriors.

In his first book for young adults --- a finalist for the National Book Award --- bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, an aspiring cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the reservation to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.