The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

1. Bibliography
Alexie, S. 2007. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Ill. by Ellen Forney. New York, NY: Little Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316013697

2. Summary
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian takes the reader through the life of Arnold Spirit Jr., or how the Indians call him, Junior. After explaining his brain condition of having cerebral spinal fluid in his head, Junior questions whether he is living up to his full potential while living in the rez (a Spokane Indian reservation) and eventually decides to go to an all-white school twenty-two miles away called Rearden. While there, he makes friends with Gordy and Penelope, and he even makes the school’s basketball team. While trying to enjoy his new school life, however, Junior goes through different tragedies that makes it hard for him to accept his Indian culture. Junior first loses touch with his best friend, Rowdy, after switching schools and competing against his hometown’s basketball team, but Junior also experiences extreme loss in his family, caused by excessive drinking in the Native American culture; he loses his grandma to a drunk driver, his sister is burned to death in her trailer home after getting drunk with her friends, and his father’s best friend, Eugene, is shot to death by an intoxicated friend. In the end, however, Junior begins to fix his friendship with Rowdy, and he begins to realize that it is okay to want to do more in life and live up to the expectations of being an Indian.

3. Discussion
My favorite parts throughout the story were seeing the comic book style of illustrations that are found in different areas throughout the story. Although they are in comic book style, the illustrations serve the same purpose as any other type of illustration in young adult literature by supplementing and bringing more life to the story. Besides the storyline being (intriguing), I continued reading in hopes that I would find more illustrations.

When I told the librarian in my elementary school that I would be taking YA literature, she automatically brought up this book and told me how she had immediately removed it from the library and currently keeps it in her office after she found out it discussed masterbation. Although I could see how this book may cause controversy at an elementary level, I do believe this book should be available to middle school and high school-level students. As stated in chapter 2 of our textbook, middle grade books have language and topics that wouldn’t be found in a middle school library.I do think the main storyline, which I believe to be about accepting oneself, would be a great topic to discuss with students in the middle school level.

4. Connections
As mentioned before, although the language used and the topics of masterbation and death may not be suitable for a middle school library, I think some parts of the book would be good to use in a classroom setting. For example, the cultural aspects of comparing whites and Indians throughout the book can serve a good topic in a social studies classroom setting, or a teacher may use some parts of the main character accepting where he comes from, how is life is shaping him, and learning who he is would be great topics to discuss in a middle school setting when students are trying to learn who they are and are going through some identity issues that they may be able to relate to.