Part time race?

While I'm not too far into Part-time Indian, the question that keeps coming to my mind is about race or ethnicity. If we are chosing a book and at least one reason is because it features the issue of race, how do we talk about race in a real way? I mean, I don't want a lofty discussion about nothing, and I don't want it to turn into a bunch of stereotypes. Clearly, Arnold has quite the struggle on his hands in trying to find his fit in based or not based on his race, so that would be a good spot to start being tangible. But what else can we talk about except belonging? I know we've touched on race a lot of times through our previous classes, and even talked about the importance of being culturally relevant. How do you point to a book on a shelf for a student and suggest it because it may be relevant to them? Is that even appropriate? I have so very little experience with race in a classroom, so I have no reference point. Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated!