The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

Alexie, S., & Forney, E. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York: Little, Brown.

Arnold Spirit Junior is a 14 year old boy living on a reservation.  He was born with water on the brain and survived surgery, but still has seizures, stutters with a lisp, has a big head, and has one nearsighted eye and one farsighted.  These issues get “Junior” picked on of course, except by his best friend Rowdy.  A teacher sees potential in Junior and encourages him to get a better education and get off the rez and out of poverty.  As Junior leaves and goes to a “white” school the whole reservation turns on him, including his friend Rowdy.  Junior tells of his life, his loss, and his hope and takes us along with him through his freshman year.

Alexie does a great job of telling his semi-autobiographical story of Junior.  He gets us to laugh and cry throughout the entire book.  The story is told in first person so it is like we are reading his journal or memoir.  Junior tells his story using lots of humor and he also includes a few cartoons throughout the book.  Sometimes we don’t really see the humor in it when his dad is drunk, his sister dies, his grandmother dies or his best friend turns on him, however through it all Junior keeps a positive attitude by keeping hope that he will keep going and at just the right time an adult will encourage him.  I would start this book in middle school.  There are some topics that might be sensitive to some readers, but I think overall it would be fine. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3QMxf4yySA book trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su_GVGWVHUs shmoop summary (funny)