book review on "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian"

Sherman, A. (2008). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian .Maine. Thorndike Press, 2008

Junior lives in an Indian Reservation and has a birth defect that doctors didn’t think he would be mentally functioning but he surprises all because he comes to do remarkable in his new school. All though in his new school which is predominantly white he struggles but he does not give up and keeps trying to succeed. He wants out of poverty, out of the Indian reservation.

Arnold Spirit, known as Junior, an Indian who lives in the Spokane Indian Reservation but is restless and gets  in to trouble at school.  He is excited to attend High school but he notices that the books are old a tattered because they are the same books that his mom used when she attended that high school. He gets so angry that he throws the book to his geometry teacher and ends up breaking his nose. He is suspended and the teacher advises him to attend an all-white public school which he later agrees. He is teased by the students in the new school (basically all white) but comes to befriend a smart popular boy also he ends up with a girlfriend name Penelope. He comes to join the basketball team. Junior’s family resent him for wanting more in life than the Indian reservation. His best friend Rowdy from the reservation also resenting him for getting out of the reservation and wanting more out of life. In a basketball game against his best friend, the Indian, ends up winning the game but does not delight himself because he knows that the Indian life is not easy.

Junior see the effect alcohol has on the Indian reservation first of all he ends up losing his grandmother because she is run over by a drunk driver. His father‘s friend Eugene is killed in a bar over an alcohol drink. His friend Rowdy is beaten by his dad when he gets really drunk. Then his sister Mary makes a party is burn alive when she gets drunk in her trailer but was too drunk to get out. He also sees that his father gets too drunk to pick him up after school and hides for two weeks because he spends the Christmas money on alcohol. At the end his best friend Rowdy comes to play basketball with him.  Rowdy admits to Junior that he knew that he wants more to life then what the Indian reservation has to offer, and that no matter where he travels to send him postcard of the places he goes to visit. Then they both end up playing till the late of night without any one keeping score.

This book is written straight forward as a diary. There are some sexual reference and swear words that might offend some people. There is also the part when Rowdy and Junior are arguing and are accusing each other of being gay, which sounds offensive and childish behavior. The cartoons are very important in the story because they express what the main character is feeling or going though at the time. This book is loosely based on the author‘s life. 

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/absolutely-true-diary-part-time-indian-storia-teaching-guide

White	Indian
bright future	vanishing past
positive role models	family history of diabetes and cancer
hope	bone-crushing reality
Air Jordans	tennis shoes from the supermarket

https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/-the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian-editable-unit-ap-style-11081717