The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
December 7, 2008 — Mary Childs
14-year-old Arnold “Junior” Spirit is a Spokane Indian who has lived on the “rez” all his life. He has an older sister whom he admires very much and a mother and father who love him, even though his father is a chronic alcoholic. Arnold has several disabilities due to his hydrocephaly or water on the brain, and has some physical conditions that make him a target for bullying. And he has a talent for cartooning.
Arnold has always attended the school on the reservation but a classroom incident in the first days of his 9th grade year prompts one of his teachers to recommend that he leave the rez school for a better school–the nearest public school 22 miles away. Now branded as a traitor to his reservation family, Arnold faces the many challenges to being a reservation Indian in a very white school. He doesn’t back down from any challenge and doors open for him in every situation.
In spite of some tough social and living conditions in Arnold’s life, this book is funny, fun to read and hopeful. It’s definitely for more mature readers who can read beyond just the words to the amazingly courageous person that is Arnold.
