The Native American Reading Group’s final book of the year is LeAnne Howe’s (Choctaw) Miko Kings: An Indian Baseball Story. Miko Kings is set in Indian Territory’s queen city, Ada Oklahoma, during the baseball fever of 1907, but moves back and forth in time from 1969, during the Vietnam War, to present-day Ada. The story centers on the lives of Hope Little Leader, a Choctaw pitcher for the Miko Kings, and Ezol Day, a postal clerk in Indian Territory who travels forward in time to tell stories to the present-day narrator. With Day’s help, the narrator draws the reader into Indian boarding schools, such as the historical Hampton Normal School for Blacks and Indians in Virginia, where the novel’s love story between Justina Maurepas—a character modeled after an influential Black educator—and Hope Little Leader, begins.
All who have read the book are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.