Book cover image from Amazon.com
THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexie, Sherman. 2009. THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN. Ill. By Ellen Forney. New York, NY: Little Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780316013697
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Junior was born with “too much grease in his skull”, he stutters, had seizures, had his ten extra teeth all pulled during the same dental visit, and he lives on an Indian reservation. Having a parents who drink too much, a sister who after living in the basement all the time ran away, and having his dog shot by his dad because they couldn’t afford to take him to the vet are just a few of the trials faced by this fourteen year old cartoonist who uses his art “to talk to the world” in hope that the world will pay attention to him.
Junior is given the chance to go to school twenty-two miles away from the reservation in a place where the only other Indian is the school’s mascot. As Junior tries to find his place in the world (half-way in the white world and half-way in Spokane Indian world) we are privy to the journey through his “diary”. Junior goes from low man on the totem pole on the reservation to finding his place as a scholar, basketball player, and leader at his new school. Along the way he loses his best friend, experiences the deaths of two family members, and finds love with a beauty named Penelope.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Sheman Alexie brings humor to this book in which the young protagonist must overcome his own prejudices about his life in order to move forward and become the person he is meant to be. By creating this novel from the first person view point of Junior, Alexie mastered the first characteristic of young adult novels…writing from the view point of young people. Since Junior had a close relationship with his grandmother and his alcoholic parents weren’t always around, characteristic two was achieved (I want the credit).
Characteristic five (body of work includes stories about characters from many different ethnic and cultural groups) was met by creating the character of Junior, a young Indian boy living on a Spokane Indian reservation but trying to go to school off of the reservation, with the “rich” kids. Junior fights against the prejudice shown to him by his own people “They call me an apple because they think I’m red on the outside and white on the inside” , and he becomes neither red nor white, but himself.
4. AWARDS/HONORS
2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
School Library Journal Best Books of 2007
2008 American Indian Library Association American Indian Youth Literature Award
Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of 2007
5. REVIEW EXCERPTS
On the site, Teen Links, Elina from Auburn, AL, wrote, “But for a story about a disabled teen who has an alcoholic father and faces bullies, racism, and the deaths of several close relatives, this book made me laugh a lot… If your heart breaks as you read this book, chances are you're laughing, too. It really does read like an absolutely true diary: genuine, poignant, in-your-face, and oh-so-real. So, laugh, cry, and love this book as much as I did.”
From School Library Journal featured as a starred review: “Exploring Indian identity, both self and tribal, Alexie’s first young adult novel is a semiautobiographical chronicle of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian from Wellpinit, WA. The bright 14-year-old was born with water on the brain, is regularly the target of bullies, and loves to draw…The teen’s determination to both improve himself and overcome poverty, despite the handicaps of birth, circumstances, and race, delivers a positive message in a low-key manner.”
Reference: Nilsen, Alleen P. and Kenneth L Donelson. 2009. LITERATURE FOR TODAY’S YOUNG ADULTS, 8th ed. (Boston, MA: Pearson).
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