The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Illus. Ellen Forney. New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2009. Print.

"The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not" (p. 176).

Annotation
Arnold Spirit, Junior, is a poor Indian kid living on the Spokane reservation and attending the richer Reardan School nearby, where he has to fit in with a bunch of white kids while turning his back on the rez. Navigating the worlds of loneliness and acceptance, Alexie's book is alternately heartbreaking and hilarious.

Snap n' read:
I wanted to punch my dad in the face. I wanted to punch him in the nose and make him bleed. I wanted to punch him in the eye and make him blind. I wanted to kick him in the balls and make him pass out.
I was hot mad. Volcano mad. Tsunami mad.
Dad just looked down at me with the saddest look in his eyes. He was crying. He looked weak.
I wanted to hate him for his weakness.
I wanted to hate Dad and Mom for our poverty.

...we reservation Indians don't get to realize our dreams. We don't get those chances. Or choices. We're just poor. That's all we are.
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  (p. 11-13).

Awards
2007 National Book Award Winner
New York Times Notable Book of 2007
Publishers Weekly Book of the Year
Kirkus Reviews Best YA Book of 2007
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
An Amazon.com Best Book of the Year
...and many more


(Image credit: Texas A&M)