Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian.
New York, NY: Little Brown and Company.
Summary: Arnold is a fourteen year old boy who lives on an Native American Reservation in Spokane, Washington. Junior, as he is called by family and friends, lives in enormous poverty along with his family. Junior is nerdy and has a skull deformity that often gets him picked on by kids and adults alike on the reservation. His best friend, Rowdy, constantly defends him and is is opposite in almost every way. Rowdy is athletic and cool. Junior starts his first year in high school and is very excited for the new chapter in his life. In his geometry class, junior finds out that he is using the exact same book that his mother used when she was in high school and gets upset and disillusioned about living on the reservation in poverty. He ends up throwing the book at his white teacher. After the urging of his teacher, Mr. P, Junior tells his parents that he wants to attend a predominantly whote school in a wealthy part of town. Life at Reardan High School is very difficult for Junior at first. He suffers from culture shock, bullying, racist comments and not fitting in. Eventually he settles in and makes friends with Penelope, Roger and Gordy and starts to finally feel like he belongs at the school. Junior starts see some tragedy in his community on the reservation when several people dies including his grandmother. He starts to see just how important the reservation life and culture is to him and his family. During his time at Reardan, Junior makes the basketball team and finds out that he will play the high school that he left on the reservation and will have to face Rowdy, his friend that he left behind. During their first game, Rowdy attacks Junior but they eventually play again where Junior's team defeats Rowdy's. Towards the end of school, Junior's sister Mary dies of alcoholism and and Junior begins to see the affects that alcohol has on the community. At the end of the book, Juniors family comes together and bonds over visiting their family and friend's graves.
Strengths: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian does a great job showing what life is like growing up in two cultures. On one hand, Arnold lives on a reservation where he has to deal with poverty and a brother who has an illness. On the other, Arnold goes to a "white" school where he see how other people live and interact. This is also a great story for anyone who feels like they just don't belong anywhere. You see Arnold struggle to fit in at home and at school. Many students might relate to Arnold's story and his feelings of not belonging.
Author Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez23fpB7zVc
Similar Books:
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
- Rain is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith
- Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
Other books by Sherman Alexie:
- Thunder Boy Jr.
- Ten Little Indians
- The Toughest Indian in the World
LSSL 5385 Requirement Met: Read
No comments:
Post a Comment