PLOT: Arnold
is a fourteen year old that was born with a brain disorder. He had surgery when he was an infant but he
was left with many physical problems, he had forty-two teeth, a big head, large
feet and was really skinny and lanky. His eyesight was also very bad and he had
to wear special glasses. He was born to an Indian family that lives on a reservation
located in Spokane, Washington. The
family along with everyone on the reservation is very poor. His father is a
drunk and his mother is an ex-drunk. His
older sister has been living in the basement for over 7 years until she decides
to run off and get married. Arnold also
known as Junior is always bullied and picked on by his peers and even by older people. He is constantly called a retard or a hydro, because
of his big head. One day at school,
sitting in Geometry class, he realizes that the school is so poor because the
textbook he gets has his moms name in it.
That meant that the text book was over 40 years old, out of anger he
throws the book at the teacher and breaks his nose. This teacher then decides to visit him at
home and has a heart to heart talk with him, somehow he convinces Arnold that
he has to get off the reservation and go to a better school. Arnold then realizes that he must make a
change if not he will just be sucked into the life of the reservation and never
become anything and eventually just die.
Arnold decides to transfer to Reardan High School that is over 22 miles
away from him and it is an all-white kid school. With the everyday struggles of getting to and
from school he doesn’t give up. Eventually,
he gains his place at the school and kids learn to respect him. Teachers are willing to help him and his
basketball coach even selects him to play on the varsity basketball team, even
though he was just a freshman. Faced with ridicule from the reservation and
seen as a traitor by many he learns to accept this and continue his dream of
wanting more out of life. The story takes a few turning points because his
grandmother, Eugene his father’s best friend and his sister all die in a span
of about 3 months. He sees his mother
pretty much fall apart and knowing they live in poverty and he has drunk for a
father, doesn’t help the situation. Arnold somehow shows courage and finishes
his first year at Reardan High School along with conquering many life
challenges.
Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian. NewYork, NY:
Little Brown and Company.
IMPRESSION OF THE BOOK: This book was just absolutely awesome. I
really enjoyed reading this book. It was
hilarious, sad, witty, and you can’t help but to root for Arnold. Along with the quirky funny situations that
Arnold faces, this book is also very inspiring.
It just goes to show that if you really want something you will do it
and accomplish it. Arnold really wanted
to more than what he was getting at the reservation so at times he walked over
22 miles to go to an all-white school because he felt he had a better chance of
getting a better education and more opportunities would be available to him. At
the reservation he was constantly picked on and bullied and his only friend
Rowdy would be the only one to really defend him. When he transferred over to Reardan High
School (the all-white school) he had to prove that he wasn’t the wimp he was
known for and a little at a time kids learned to respect him. He started dating a really pretty girl named
Penelope and he even was the only freshman starter on the Varsity Basketball
team. There was a lot of positive
encouragement from his classmates, teachers and coach that allowed Arnold to
really see that he was someone and that he could make a difference. Now, you might ask what makes this book so
funny well one, Arnold is telling the story, and he doesn’t hold back in
talking about his experiences. One time
he actually described his masturbation in the bathroom and how he got an
erection because he hugged the counselor.
The way Rowdy and him talk to each other is just right down hilarious
because they really go off on each other.
There are some sad parts to this story because Arnolds grandmother, and
sister die and you see his suffering through his character. Also his dad’s best friend, Eugene dies
because he got in a drunken brawl with this friend and the friend shot him in
the face. Arnold really has to face many challenges in this book. He faces bullying, racism, poverty, death,
and he somehow manages to be heroic to his family, tribe and school. This book
is a great read and I really enjoyed it. I give this book two very big thumbs
up.
REVIEWS:
Kirkus Reviews starred (2007)Alexie nimbly blends sharp wit with unapologetic emotion in his first foray into young-adult literature. Fourteen-year-old Junior is a cartoonist and bookworm with a violent but protective best friend Rowdy. Soon after they start freshman year, Junior boldly transfers from a school on the Spokane reservation to one in a tiny white town 22 miles away. Despite his parents' frequent lack of gas money (they're a "poor-ass family"), racism at school and many crushing deaths at home, he manages the year. Rowdy rejects him, feeling betrayed, and their competing basketball teams take on mammoth symbolic proportions. The reservation's poverty and desolate alcoholism offer early mortality and broken dreams, but Junior's knowledge that he must leave is rooted in love and respect for his family and the Spokane tribe. He also realizes how many other tribes he has, from "the tribe of boys who really miss . . . their best friends" to "the tribe of tortilla chips-and-salsa lovers." Junior's keen cartoons sprinkle the pages as his fluid narration deftly mingles raw feeling with funny, sardonic insight. (Fiction. YA)
Kirkus Review. (2007).
[Review of the book The absolutely true
diary of a part-time indian, by Sherman Alexie]. Kirkus Reviews Issue. Retrieved August 5, 2013, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sherman-alexie/the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian/.
USE IN THE LIBRARY: This book is way too long to do a class lesson in the library so what I would do is put it in a display with other books that relate to this topic. The display could be called “Sex in the Library” and other books such as Crank, Forever, Shiver, The Perks of Being a Wild Flower and many more books. I think students especially my teens would really go hay wire over the display and want to check out the books.
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