On the front page of my edition of this book for Young Adults, twenty-two awards are listed, including National Book Award, New York Times Book Review Notable Book for Children, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the year. Happily, the book lives up to its many bestowals of praise.

What I wasn’t aware of until after completing the book was that the story actually is, to a large extent, the author’s own story. Although the name of the 14-year-old protagonist is Arnold Spirit, Junior, rather than Sherman Alexie, Junior, many other details are the same.

Both the real Sherman and the fictional Arnold were born on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington (Sherman in 1966 and Arnold in 1992). Both developed hydrocephaly, or water on the brain, and required surgery at six months. Both overcame these obstacles as well as others, and graduated from the white high school about 20 miles from Wellpinit. And both became star basketball players at this high school.

Arnold, or “Junior” as he is known on the “rez” writes his diary with extraordinary insight, and a knack for looking on the bright side. His optimism persists in spite of constant teasing from other kids and even adults on the rez because of the way he looks: the hydrocephaly makes his head huge compared to the rest of his body, he wears "geeky" glasses, and is teased and beaten up regularly. His diary, illustrated intermittently by the wonderful drawings of Ellen Forney (but purported to be by Arnold) is his outlet. As he explains:

"I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”

Throughout, Arnold lightens the pathos of his life with a sense of humor that makes the hardships endured by his family and by reservation life bearable in spite of the pain they simultaneously impart. He well exemplifies the Yiddish expression “lachen mit yashcherkes” or laughing with lizards, which means: I’m laughing but it’s actually very sad. And there is much that is very sad.

On his family's poverty he writes:

"…it’s not like my mother and father were born into wealth. It’s not like they gambled away their family fortunes. My parents came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people.”

He observes:

"It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian. And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it. ... Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.”

He talks about the pervasiveness of alcoholism on the rez (a way to make pain go away, as he explains). His mom was a recovered alcoholic but his dad was still in its throes:

"When the holidays rolled around, we didn’t have any money for presents, so Dad did what he always does when we don’t have enough money. ... He took what little money we did have and ran away to get drunk.”

His grandmother was killed by a drunk driver, and his dad’s best friend was killed during a fight over alcohol. His older sister, too, died because of an alcohol-related incident. He objects to Tolstoy’s famous opening line to Anna Karenina that “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”:

"Well I hate to argue with a Russian genius, but Tolstoy didn’t know Indians. And he didn’t know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reason: the fricking booze.”

When he and his parents went to the cemetery to clean graves, Arnold “wept and wept and wept because I knew that I was never going to drink and because I was never going to kill myself and because I was going to have a better life out in the white world.” And he does. But not because he hates his Indian heritage:

"I cried because so many of my fellow tribal members were slowly killing themselves and I wanted them to live. I wanted them to get strong and get sober and get the hell off the rez. … Reservations were meant to be prisons, you know? Indians were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear.”

Alexie makes you so glad he fought not to disappear. This book of laughs and tears and strength and courage is both a love letter and a challenge to his fellow Indians to raise themselves out of the prison the white man put them in, and realize the joy of a life fulfilled. As his basketball coach told him Vince Lombardi had said, “The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.” Arnold/Sherman does his best in spite of nearly insuperable odds to make this dream come true.

Evaluation: All the awards for this book were given justifiably. This is a unique and creative contribution to young adult literature. Arnold's voice seems authentic for his age, and his positive attitude toward the tragedies of his life has much to teach young teens. But even adults won't be disappointed! ( )

This book is one of the more enjoyable books I've read so far. Its about a poor Indian boy named Arnold or "Junior" and his interactions with his tribe-mates and the white kids at Reardan high school. I also found while reading this book that time flows by you because the contents are really funny and exciting. The only down fall to this book was the first 70 pages or so because I found them so boring and just not interesting. But other than that, I'd recomend this book to ages 11 and up. I had a great time reading this book and I hope you do to.
Pages. 230 ( )

This novel, both hilarious and charming, is a great peice of teen literature. In other words, it was awesome. It will make you shed both tears of joy and sorrow as you follow Junior on his journey of self-discovery in a place of heartbreak. I loved this book ( )

Assigned by professor of college course my daughter was taking. She enjoyed it so much she recommended it to me. I can't remember a book I enjoyed more on so many levels. While seemingly a simple book about a teenager on a reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, Sherman Alexie covers a myriad of topics personalized by his own experience. Alcoholism, lack of work, racism, isolation, physical abuse, and poverty are all addressed in sometimes humorous, but always thought-provoking way. A better lesson on the Native American's experience on the reservation than you could get from any history book. Very highly recommended--especially the audio version read by the author! ( )

"I want to go to Stanford and study architecture."
"Wow, that's cool," I said. "But why architecture?"
"Because I want to build something beautiful. Because I want to be remembered."
And I couldn't make fun of her for that dream. It was my dream, too. And Indian boys weren't supposed to dream like that. And white girls from small towns weren't supposed to dream big, either.
We were supposed to be happy with our limitations. But there was no way Penelope and I were going to sit still. Nope, we both wanted to fly. ( )

What sets this book apart from the YA lit masses is that the author manages to tell a great story and explore themes about identity and culture that many authors shy away from. Junior is like a man without a country. He is too smart to choose to continue living on the impoverished reservation where everyone knows him, his family, and all of their secrets, but he sticks out like a sore thumb at the affluent all-white school, and he can’t really imagine how he’s going to make a future in the white world.

Junior’s struggle to develop his cultural and personal identities, to navigate the choppy waters of adolescence, and to separate from his family enough to look at them with a little perspective will resonate with readers from privileged and minority groups alike. His alternating confidence and self-doubt will be familiar terrain, and the lessons he learns, whether you’re hearing them for the first time or the thousandth, will remind you of what it’s like to be a teenager, or, if you are still one, will give you hope that life really does become more bearable.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and while I can understand that the bit about masturbation might not appeal to some readers, I think the vast majority of Junior’s story is uncontroversial and definitely worth checking out. Alexie treats his characters with kindness, insight, and great humor, and I will definitely be recommending The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to teen readers (and reassuring their parents when necessary).

Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog. ( )

Many life issues are addressed in this book (death, love, friendship, family, school, goal setting). It is a good read. ( )

Funny, educational. ( )

A brilliant book that follows Junior as he navigates his first year of high school at a school off of the Spokane reservation. Told in the form of his diary with hilarious and heartbreaking illustrations throughout, this book takes on the difficult issues of what it means to be an American Indian and the complicated and funny problems of just being a growing boy. This is a book that could be recommended to a middle school reader or even older because the illustrations and the vocabulary make the read feel easier while not lessening the impact of the story. Also the author has done a good job of capturing the teasing and gross out humor of boys going through puberty which makes the book a fun and true read. ( )

the book was very good and it made me laugh several times and was well written ( )

A moving coming of age about a misfit kid on a reservation and how he saves himself. Humour, pathos, gritty realism and basketball. JH

This book is a good example of a autobiography because it contains real life events of an American Indian teenager written about himself
Author's style: "my brain was drowning in grease" metaphor
Art Media: black pen

Another book that seems to have been subject to all the hype recently, although less so on this side of the pond. I picked it up in the States, after spending some time with a Navajo woman and driving through Flathead and Spokane land.

The Absolutely True Diary is exactly that, narrated by our part-time Indian, Junior, who grows up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. After a disastrous start to high school, Junior requests a transfer to a different school, in a rich, predominantly white town, miles away from his home. He soon discovers that change brings numerous challenges, both at home and at school.

Rather than being a story about an Indian boy suffering the trials and tribulations of life and leaving the rez in order to have a better education, it is more the story of a teenage boy suffering the typical trials and tribulations of life. Two things make Junior stand out from the average American boy. One being that he suffered brain damage as an infant, which affects his speech and has caused some physical problems. The other is that he is Native American, growing up in poverty on the Spokane reservation. Although perhaps it is the latter reason that the book has been so hyped, it is not the only reason to pick up and enjoy this book. In fact, quite the opposite. Sherman Alexie has written a touching tale about a boy trying to find his way in the world, surviving his health problems, bullying and his family's poverty, to obtain himself a good education and possibly a bright future. Yes it is made all the poignant by his ethnicity, but much of the humour comes from the typical teenage mishaps and discoveries.

Having said that, Sherman Alexie has obviously drawn on his deep intimate knowledge of life on a reservation to write a wonderfully humourous and often sad tale which gives us some insight into a world that most Americans know little about. Regardless, this is an amusing and touching tale that will strike a chord with any teenager (or anyone who remembers being a teenager) who has felt like an outsider.

Even though this is a book about Junior (aka Arnold), it's really a book about each of us. Very few books capture so well the fears, doubts, and wonder we all at some point have had. Junior is a full-blooded Indian on the Spokane reservation, where like most reservations he says, most people drink too much and work too little. Junior decides if he's ever going to break the cycle and make something of himself, he has to get off the reservation. So his parents agree he can go to the 'white' school in Reardon, 22 miles away. Some days he has to walk all that way home. Many days he walks part of the way. Arnold is ostracized by his tribe for leaving the rez, and ostracized by the white students in Reardon because he's Indian. His best friend, Rowdy, now hates him. Yet Arnold/Junior is able to find grace and beauty in all the turmoil. With this novel, Sherman Alexie has written the perfect book. It deserved the National Book Award, which it won. It deserves much more, as well. Frankly, this is a book that should be taught in freshman English classes. Some subject matter will make book banners blush: Junior freely admits to masturbation (and offers the disclaimer that 'we all do it, we all like it, otherwise God wouldn't have given us thumbs'). Readers mature enough for that honesty shouldn't have any trouble with the rest of the book. ( )

http://straycarrierpigeon.com/2009/10... ( )

This story told the life of Albert Spirit and the struggles he faced as a misfit on a Spokane Indian Reservation. Albert was sheltered as a child, because he was born with an enlarged head and had to have surgery. He was expected to suffer from brain damage, but actually was a very intelligent boy. As a high school student he made the decision to leave the reservation and attend a white school, where he knew he would have a better education and more opportunities to get somewhere one day. There are many tragic and hard times in the story, but Albert still comes through. One troubling thing that upset Albert was the loss of his best friend, Rowdy. Rowdy drops Albert for the year he went to the white school, because he felt like Albert was a traitor against his people. In the end of the story the friends are reunited when Rowdy comes back to Albert and tells him that he is a true nomadic Indian, like those from the past … looking for greener pastures and ‘that is cool.’ Rowdy says that the Indians on the reservation won’t go anywhere, and he finally sees this and admires his friend for leaving. ( )

http://www.fallsapart.com/truediary.h...
Scroll down to website and read reviews from SLJ, Publishers Weekly.

Sherman Alexie is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, and this young adult novel sums up all the reasons why. Junior, the main character, is a high school freshman who has something no one else on his reservation possesses: hope. To keep it, he will have to do something no one on "the rez" has ever done: leave behind the stultifying Indian high school to study in the white, affluent town nearby. Not unexpectedly, his decision comes at a price. Scrawny and epileptic, he had never fit in on the reservation; now, though, he becomes an outsider who's less than Indian. Ironically, at his new school, being a poor Indian defines him. The novel is mostly Junior's reckoning with the injustice and tragedy that surrounds him -- both the ones inflicted by history on the whole of the Native American people, and the wounds his fellow Indians inflict upon themselves.

What I particularly admired about this novel was the way that every single character, whether Native American or white, was a three-dimensional human being. Through the eyes of Junior, whose outsider status gives him both wisdom and compassion, Alexie makes each character sympathetic in some small way. Even when we can't approve of the way they behave, we understand the deeper hurt behind their actions.

This novel is classified as young adult because it's narrated by a teenager, not because the themes or writing style are less complex than a book for adults. I feel like everyone should read this; it's easy to get through, but it offers a much-needed glimpse into a rarely represented world, and it accomplishes the rare feat of examining prejudice without demonizing anyone. I am certain this will go on my list of best reads of 2009. ( )

Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

I'll admit -- I put off reading THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN for well over a year, in favor of more "exciting" books. Boy, what a mistake I made!

Told from the perspective of thirteen-year-old Arnold Spirit, an intelligent, observant, sarcastic Indian born with encephalitis and a love of cartooning, Sherman Alexie takes us along with him as he moves away from a circumscribed, oppressive life on the Spokane reservation towards a more promising future by attending an all-white school thirty miles away.

Never one to get bogged down in sentiment or self-pity, Mr. Alexie refuses to present Arnold's friends and family as one-dimensional stereotypes, nor is the world beyond "rez" borders portrayed as the Great White Hope. Arnold's family has problems, to be sure: an alcoholic father, an enabling, codependent mother; a near shut-in older sister. But their love for each other is evident through their words and actions. And despite the ostracism and ridicule heaped upon him by former friends and other tribe members, Arnold reacts with biting wit rather than total despair.

This has to be one of the best books I've ever read in my life, so I hope everyone gives it a try. ( )

There are so many people who think this book is some kind of masterpiece. I found it just so so. I didn't think it was quite laugh-out-loud funny (as i was told it was) though it was somewhat humorous. I must admit that i am predisposed to disliking Sherman Alexie for reasons of my own, but even so i have enjoyed other of his works more. ( )

I really liked “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, which is Alexie’s first book in the YA category. Does that mean I would recommend that teenagers read this book? Well….it depends. One has to know that this book addresses a lot of things. Alcoholism. Disabilities. Bulimia. Racism. Sexuality (mainly about masturbation). Teenage angst. Poverty. Domestic Violence. Homophobia. Swearing– and quite a bit of it. And maybe some more that some people might have issue with. Still, I think older teens (unless they are extremely sheltered) are already aware of all those things. And, these issues are handled sensitively by Alexie, I think. This book is reportedly drawn from some aspects of Alexie’s own life and background.

In a nutshell, this book is about Arnold Spirit, Jr., mainly known as Junior. As the first sentence states, “I was born with water on the brain“; so he is already a misfit from the start because of that; and also because he is near-sighted and has had to wear glasses since he was three years old. Nevertheless, in spite of growing up poor on a reservation, he decides to leave the reservation school (while still living on the rez) and start high school at the nearby mostly-white school (therefore, the title of the book).

So, this book is all about Junior’s experiences, adjusting to being the only Indian at a high school whose mascot is an Indian also; and what his life is like in general. He says:

“It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly. And then you start believing you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian. And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor….Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor”.

Junior manages to make it through his first year, however. He is dating a girl (who turns out to be bulimic); joins the basketball team and gets injured on purpose when he and his school plays against his reservation’s school; and while not popular, does make eventually some friends. Being a teenager, Junior relates his experiences in a sometimes irreverent and sarcastic voice; and of course with a lot of language (bad words, for example) that many teenagers tend to experiment with.

This book probably paints a realistic picture of what it is like to be a modern-day Indian growing up on a reservation. I think for that reason, it should be widely-read, but to be aware of what goes on in the book before handing it over to a young adult. ( )

In true Sherman Alexie fashion, we get the uncensored feelings and views of a Native American teen, dealing with issues of culture affecting his decisions. In this novel, our main character decides to go off the rez to go to school. He must then deal with all that comes with what seems to many as a young man, turning his back on his people. ( )

if you are a fan of this book or sherman alexie you must listen to the audio book! Alexis narrates it himself and it is absolutely amazing!! ( )

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Boston: Little,
Brown Young Readers, 2007.

Genre:

Multicultural/Diversity

Themes:

Young Adult, Alcoholism, death, sports, Native Americans (Indians), reservations, poverty.

Reading Level:

Teen - Grade 7-9, Age 12-14

Awards:
• American Indian Youth Literature Award (2008)
• Cybils Finalist (Young Adult Fiction, 2007)
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist (Young Adult Literature, 2007)
• ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2008)
• National Book Award (Young People's Literature, 2007)
• Book Sense Book of the Year (2008.3 | Children's Literature Honor Book, 2008)
• A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (2007)
• Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Fiction and Poetry, 2008)
• Michigan Library Association's Thumbs Up! Award (2008.1|Honor, 2008)
• BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (2007)
• ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2010.02 | Hard Knock Life, 2010)

Censorship Issues:

The censorship issues are fairly limited in this YA novel, which is geared for the younger portion of the YA audience. The only portion of the novel that I found possibly contentious was the overwhelming description of Indians as alcoholic degenerates (which I always believed to be a stereotype), but the novel forced the acceptance of the basis of that stereotype.

Plot Summary:

The novel opens with a funny, clever introduction to the character of Arnold Spirit, a Native American also known as Junior. Junior was born with “water on the brain,” which caused physical problems resulting from the brain damage. On his first day of high school, he is given the same geometry book that his mother had used years before. Unable to contain his outrage at the reservations poverty, he uncharacteristically throws the book across the room, inadvertently breaking the nose of his teacher, Mr. P. Suspended, Mr. P. visits Junior at his home, but instead of being angry, he convinces Junior to leave the underfunded reservation school and attend the all white high school in a nearby town.
Junior decides to go and is shunned by the entire reservation, including his best friend, Rowdy, but he perseveres and finds hope that with more opportunities her at the new school, he has a future. He slowly adjusts to the different “rules” of the white society, and begins to make friends. He gets a white girlfriend and even makes the basketball team, becoming a star three point shooter.
The two pivotal points of the book are the two basketball games that are played between Junior’s new team and the reservation’s team. The first game is won by the reservation and Junior’s nose is broken. This makes the second game’s importance to Junior tantamount, but when they win, humiliating the reservation and Rowdy, Junior instantly feels regret and shame for abandoning his people.

Critique:

The novel is both funny and poignant. It combines a traditional narrative with the clever artwork of Ellen Forney. In the novel, Junior is a budding cartoonist and Forney’s artwork pushes the narrative to higher level. The dialog is funny and believable, which YA’s should identify with. The novel is written in the first person style, and junior’s observations are sharp and witty. An all around strong novel from Alexie, the novel deserves a place amongst YA collections.

Curriculum Uses:

The obvious use is in the area of diversity, but the novel could also be used to study the effects of government policies towards the Native Americans. A curriculum plan could be supplemented by the novel to examine the real life effects of those policies and stimulate discussion in the classroom. ( )

The humor in this book is both ironic and bittersweet. Arnold Sweet is an American Indian who breaks tradition and leaves his rez to go to an outside school. In this outside school he becomes more than the stereo type he was pegged into. ( )