The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time
Indian. NY: Little Brown.
Junior, a high school freshman who enjoys drawing cartoons, is
struggling with his decision to attend the ‘white’ school outside of town to
better himself and open doors to a better future at the encouragement of a
teacher from the reservation school. However,
to his community this is seen as a betrayal and the people on the reservations
begin to resent him and treat him as a traitor.
Even his best friend, Rowdy, who has always taken care of Junior, turns
against him. After initially being given
a rough time at his new school for being an Indian and then being completely ignored,
he begins to make friends with his classmates, makes the basketball team and
even gets a girlfriend. He discovers
that these students at his new school are decent people who just happened to have
been born with more opportunities than those from the reservation, where
alcoholism runs rampant and winning at high school basketball is as good as it
will ever get. While dealing with the
drama of attending a new school and his community hassling him because of it,
Junior has to cope with the loss of his grandmother when she is struck by a
drunk driver. She is such a beloved
member of the community that her death has a profound impact on everyone. Afterward the people on the reservation no
longer give Junior a hard time and even Rowdy comes around to forgiving his
friend for leaving. This National Book Award Winner is an excellent read for any high school student.
Book Trailer for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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