The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Bibliography
Alexie, Sherman. 2007. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Ill. by Ellen Forney. New York: Little Brown, and Company. ISBN 0316013684

The Characters
Spokane Indian, Arnold "Junior" Spirit, is the main character of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Other characters include his parents and sister, his best/ex-best friend Rowdy, the love interest, Penelope, and various other minor characters here and there.

The Plot
After breaking his geometry teacher's nose with an old, old textbook, cartoonist Arnold "Junior" Spirit leaves his small, poor reservation high school to attend the big, rich white high school in Reardan. Other than the school's mascot, Junior is the only Indian there, so he becomes an outcast and traitor on his reservation and a loner at the new school. Through basketball games, more challenging classes, dating and dances, Junior begins to come into his own, accepting his life and background and growing because of it.

The Setting
the Spokane Indian Reservation and Reardan, a city 22 miles away from it

The Theme



...............................................isolation




The Style
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is written sort of like a diary with doodles drawn in the margins. Junior tells his story in short chapters, much like if he were writing things down as they happened, then illustrating a part of it because he got bored or wanted to show something rather than tell it. It's about a fourteen year old boy, so it reads like a fourteen year old boy thinks, with sarcasm, wit, humor, anger and masturbation (not necessarily in that order).

The Analysis
This book is hilarious and moving at the same time, which is rare. I think teens could really relate to Junior because he's not afraid to tell it like it is, whether it's about basketball, boobs or books or more important things like friendship, love, life or death. The illustrations are great and funny, but sometimes serious. It's a great tale of growing up, regardless of who you are or where you live.

The Cultural Markers
Illustrations: The illustrations drawn by Junior in the book are what he sees in and around himself on the reservation and in his new all-white school. Some are of his family and friends on the rez, which are Indian with dark hair and strong facial structures, others are of his new friends and teachers at his new school, which are white with light eyes and light hair. Some of the illustrations are of random things, like butts and volcanoes and birds and basketball, all of which pertain to the importance of the story.

Text: There are lots of cultural markers in the text of this novel. The majority of the time, the reservation is called the rez, there are many times that Junior is called by negative Indian names, like Chief, Sitting Bull, Tonto, Red-Skin and Squaw Boy (63). There are many references to the white people that live in and around the rez being sad just like the Indians on the rez, but white people who don't live on the reservation are wonderful and full of hope. There are a few times that Indians are described as being red. There are also other stereotypical Indian notions mentioned in the book, such as alcoholism and gambling addiction.

The Review
Ian Chipman (Booklist, Aug. 1, 2007 (Vol. 103, No. 22))
Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a decent jumpshot, spends his time lamenting life on the “poor-ass” Spokane Indian reservation, drawing cartoons (which accompany, and often provide more insight than, the narrative), and, along with his aptly named pal Rowdy, laughing those laughs over anything and nothing that affix best friends so intricately together. When a teacher pleads with Arnold to want more, to escape the hopelessness of the rez, Arnold switches to a rich white school and immediately becomes as much an outcast in his own community as he is a curiosity in his new one. He weathers the typical teenage indignations and triumphs like a champ but soon faces far more trying ordeals as his home life begins to crumble and decay amidst the suffocating mire of alcoholism on the reservation. Alexie’s humor and prose are easygoing and well suited to his young audience, and he doesn’t pull many punches as he levels his eye at stereotypes both warranted and inapt. A few of the plotlines fade to gray by the end, but this ultimately affirms the incredible power of best friends to hurt and heal in equal measure. Younger teens looking for the strength to lift themselves out of rough situations would do well to start here.

The Connection
Since The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an illustrated diary, I think it would be a fun experiment to share this story with teens, then have them write and illustrate their own diaries.