The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner)
A National Book Award winner
A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner
Bestselling and award winning author Sherman Alexie tells the hearbreaking yet funny story about a boy living on the Spokane Indian Reservation who wants to break free of the life he was destined to live.
Junior is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, based on the author's own experiences and coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Arnold Spirt, a Spokane Indian, goes to a white school by choice. Trouble ensues for Arnold when he decides to go to the all-white high school of Reardon.
I highly recommend this book.
I want to put this in my 7th/8th grade classroom library, but there is some potentially offensive language and content, including brief and casual discussion of masturbation (hey, it's a 15-year-old boy's diary); repeated, realistic, but not excessive swearing; and a bit of dialogue that includes homophobic insults (a couple of friends calling each other 'faggot.') Everything about this book provides rich fodder for discussion, the least of which are these peripheral issues.
It is also worth mentioning the great cartoons in the diary that say as much about Junior's experiences as his writing does. There is a constant and masterful balance of reality, cynicism, and humor. Truly a work of art that any person - middle-schooler or adult - can take meaning from.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.