The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Alexie, S., Forney, E. and Hesse, M. (2009). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. Stuttgart: Klett Sprachen.

Summary
The main character Arnold Spirit Jr. lives in a reservation with his family. Many believed than he would not be able to make it through his infancy due to his born condition of hydrocephalus. This caused Junior to be bullied by others. Junior does not live in very family oriented home his parents are alcoholic. When Junior enters high school his geometry teacher advises him to get out of the reservation. Junior takes his advice and enrolls in a school in Reardan. It not easy coming into a new school and Junior encounters a few mishaps, but eventually is accepted by a few students and joins the basketball team. A series of unfortunate events follow Junior such as the reservation turning their backs at him and losing his sister. Junior even loses his best friend Rowdy for he feels betrayed. At the end Junior and his family begin to heal at the community begins to accept Junior again.

Critical Analysis
Junior a Native American boy is living in Spokane Indian Reservation and attending school there. Feeling trapped he decides to take his education into his own hands and transfer to a public school. The book is based on the authors own experiences. It is narrated by the main character and one can feel his frustrations with wanting something and his community not supporting his decisions. He has to deal with an alcoholic family, bullying, and the pressures of high school. The book would be great for students starting in middle school and above. Even though this nonfiction novel is lengthy it would be a good choice for ELLs for the many illustrations that come along with the text. The book comes with wonderful illustrations form Ellen Forney. The pencil sketched illustrations made me laugh and reminded me of the notes we would pass during class before phones ruled the world.
While reading this book I remembered how harsh high school and people can be in general. Sometimes when one goes after their dreams and aspirations not everyone is supportive and some even voice their dislike. Junior went for what he wanted and that is something that teaching our students is important. He experienced stereotyping, bullying, emotional, and physical abuse. Even though, Junior went through many obstacles from being bullied by peers and even his community he still managed to keep his goal in mind. Life is not easy and not everyone is born into a privileged life. Though, it is oneself who decides where life takes us. As a teacher our students come from all backgrounds and learning about different cultures can help us relate to them and build a better classroom environment.

Connections:
Students could write a reflection paper on ways they could relate to the main characters. Other books by Sherman Alexie:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven ISBN 0802141676

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