Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-01368-0 Hardback, $16.99
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| Cover photo courtesy of Goodreads.com |
Annotation: In search of a better life, Junior decides to attend a white school off the reservation. While learning to navigate the new environment, he must simultaneously battle the resentment of his old schoolmates, the racism of his new schoolmates, and process personal tragedy in his own family.
Booktalk: Fourteen-year-old Arnold Spirit (aka Junior), lives the harsh realities of poverty on the Spokane Reservation every day. He experiences first-hand the tragic effects of alcoholism, drug abuse, and gambling, Junior routinely escapes into his drawings, thinking that his only way off the reservation is to become a rich and famous cartoonist. "I draw because I want to talk to the world...I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." (p. 6)
Booktalk: Fourteen-year-old Arnold Spirit (aka Junior), lives the harsh realities of poverty on the Spokane Reservation every day. He experiences first-hand the tragic effects of alcoholism, drug abuse, and gambling, Junior routinely escapes into his drawings, thinking that his only way off the reservation is to become a rich and famous cartoonist. "I draw because I want to talk to the world...I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." (p. 6)
When Junior loses his temper at school and throws a book at Mr. P, his geometry teacher, he gets suspended. But, instead of being furious, Mr. P. encourages Junior to leave the reservation and go to school in a small farming town about 20 miles away. Mr. P tells Junior how smart he is and that leaving the reservation is the only way to have a future. Junior has spirit and fight and wants a better life. The white school, Reardon, has more kids, more resources, and more hope than any school on the reservation.
But going to the white school is considered a betrayal by his old schoolmates, especially his best friend Rowdy. Will Rowdy ever forgive him? Can Junior figure out how to make the other rez kids understand that he just needs some hope? Can Junior find a way to fit in with the white kids and succeed at Reardon?
Filled with humor and fantastic drawings, Junior’s story is filled with tragedy and heartbreak, but ultimately hope.
Awards:
- 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
- 2007 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
- 2007 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
- 2008 American Indian Youth LIterature Award for Best Young Adult Book
- 2009 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production Honor
- 2009 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
- 2010 American Indian Library Association Award
My personal booktalk for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian:
Watch the winning entry for KCLS's 2011 "Read, Flip, Win Contest"
Check out the author's Goodreads page here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4174.Sherman_Alexie
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