The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 2007. Print.

Annotation:

Arnold Spirit Junior is a young kid who lives on an Indian reservation. He is from a poor family and realizes that "it sucks to be poor." Junior transfers out to go to a high school 22 miles outside his reservation and struggle emotionally and physically.

Justification:

This is a must read! Sherman Alexie is one of the best known Native writers and in reality, the man is just naturally funny. Alexie's personality shines through his work effortlessly and that is what makes his books and novels so great.

Junior is from a poor family, a poor community, and it really sucks when everybody around you thinks alcohol is more important than education and money. He makes a decision to attend a white school outside of the "rez"and is now labeled as a "traitor" and an "apple, red on the outside, white on the inside." If anyone has read or heard of Sherman Alexie, there are many stereotypes and past experience from his own personal life he includes in his books. This is one reason why I love his work so much because he writes with truth and honesty. In this book, readers will find the constant battle Junior has to live with be the only Indian at his school besides the mascot and trying to keep it real with his best friend who is still back at the rez. This is a very powerful book that shows the issues of identity in young adults' lives. Moreover, readers will find great humor, stereotypes, relationship, social and political issues and trust in this book.

Genre: Humor, Identity, Multicultural