Even+Part+Time+Readers+Will+Enjoy+Alexie


 * Even Part-Time Readers Will Enjoy Alexie **

__The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian__. Sherman Alexie, 2007. Illustrated by Ellen Forney.

// Imagine getting up in the morning, taking a shower, eating breakfast, making sure you have all your homework, finally you are ready to walk outside and make the trek to school (or to the bus stop); who are you with? On a good day your friends would be outside waiting for you, like in the Christmas classic //// A Christmas Story, //// so they could talk about who was going to stick their tongue on a frozen flagpole (or whatever misguided bet is going on amongst these friends at the time). For Arnold Spirit, also called Junior, in Sherman Alexie’s semi-autobiographical book //// The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, //// it becomes much different than the cliché school jaunt when he decides that he wants to go to a rich white school outside the Spokane Indian Reservation where he lives. Junior chooses to change his path in life, hopefully for the better, so he can get away from the bullies that constantly berate him for the complications that came from having “water on the brain” (the way Junior describes himself being born with too much cerebral spinal fluid in his skull); he has 42 teeth //, an over-sized head, hands, and feet, has poor eyesight, experiences frequent seizures, stutters, and speaks with a lisp.

As a result of these misfortunes Junior is the recipient of severe bullying. Fortunately, he gets to come home to the undying love of his parents and grandmother (though his mother and father both drink). After being convinced, by a guidance counselor from the reservation’s school, to go to the rich white school in Reardan (where his is also an outcast) Junior begins to figure out how to discover just how destitute the Native Americans on his reservation are and tries to figure out the reasons behind their situation (connects his isolation with the isolation of the Native Americans). He also begins to realize just how much is out there to learn. "The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don't know....Okay, so it's like each of these books is a mystery. Every book is a mystery. And if you read all the books ever written, it's like you've read one giant mystery. And no matter how much you learn, you just keep on learning there is so much more you need to learn." While on the reservation it seemed that people were much more interested in getting drunk than with knowledge. Instead Junior wants to be drunk //on// knowledge by reading every book he can until they become one big mystery.

To get away from his feeling of utter unimportance Junior draws cartoons (Alexie puts slides these into the book adding to its humor). Not only does it make him feel important, but with them he is able to imagine what his family would have been like if they had not been bound by the reservation. This allows Junior to express himself in a way that is enjoyable for him. The cartoons also help to show his determination to get out of poverty in the face of all the obstacles that have been set before him. // Alexie's comical and accessible writing coupled with the very disheartening situations Junior is in (as well as the entire Reservation; poverty, alcoholism etc...) almost puts this book in the young adult dramedy category making this book a quick and enjoyable read that would be useful in any classroom. //

** Recommendations for Teachers **

Since The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is semi-autobiographical, it deals with realistic issues that most teenagers can relate to through personal experience. Teachers can utilize this aspect of the book by connecting the issues presented to the lives of students. Some of the issues addressed in the book that could be discussed in the classroom are: the high school community, tolerance, self-esteem, identity, racism, death, alcoholism, and family. The accessibility of the issues makes the book relatable for students, so teachers should be able to have higher level discussions about these social issues. Even though the issues are accessible, they are also highly controversial, and it may be difficult for teachers to discuss all of the issues in the classroom. The alcoholism, the deaths, and the fighting in the novel, among other things, may be protested by parents, administration, or students themselves because of the graphic nature of certain passages. The intellectual and maturity level of the students needs to be taken into consideration before teaching the entire book. This book would most likely work best for students who have specific interest in the topics which are addressed. It could work well as an option for a small group literature circle. There is also the option for teachers to use sections of the book to teach about the social problems that Native Americans face. Teachers could use the book for teaching students about reservation life or Native American life in general.

** About the Author **  Sherman Alexie was born in October of 1966 in the Spokane Indian Reservation outside of Spokane, Washington. As an infant he had to under surgery for hydrocephalic (as he describes in his book, //The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,// this means he had "water on the brain") which doctors predicted would kill him. Even when he made it through the surgery doctors believed that he would still suffer severe side-effects, like mental retardation, but, proving them wrong again, he excelled in school. Later on during his writing career Alexie would use the lessons he learned from his hardships to right his book //The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.//

 Alexie's original career path was aimed at being a doctor, but with the help of a persuasive professor Alexie altered that path mid flight and began working towards being a writer and the rest is history.

 Alexie's work includes: **Poetry**


 * //[|The Business of Fancydancing (]//poetry, 1991)
 * //[|I Would Steal Horses]// (poetry, 1992)
 * //[|Old Shirts and New Skins]//(poetry, 1993)
 * //[|First Indian on the Moon]// (poetry, 1993)
 * //[|Seven Mourning Songs For the Cedar Flute I Have Yet to Learn to Play (]//poetry, 1993)
 * //[|Water Flowing Home (]//poetry, 1995)
 * //[|The Summer of Black Widows (]//poetry, 1996)
 * //[|The Man Who Loves Salmon]// (poetry, 1998)
 * //[|One Stick Song]// (poetry, 2000)
 * //[|Dangerous Astronomy]// (poetry, 2005)

Fiction

 * // [|The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven] // (short stories, 1993)
 * // [|Reservation Blues] // (novel, 1995)
 * // [|Indian Killer] // (novel, 1996; referred to by Alexie as "a feel-good novel about interracial murder")
 * // [|The Toughest Indian in the World] // (short stories, 2000)
 * // [|Ten Little Indians] // (stories, 2003)
 * // [|Flight] // (novel, 2007)
 * // [|The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian] // (young adult novel, 2007)

Films

 * //[|Smoke Signals]// (writer, 1998; adapted from a short story, "This is What It Means to Say [|Phoenix, Arizona]" in //Lone Ranger and Tonto//)
 * //[|The Business of Fancydancing]// (writer and director, 2002)
 * //49?// (writer, 2003)


 * Sources:** Biographical Inforation from- [|http://www.shermanalexie.com], list of novels from- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Alexie, Links from [|http://www.fallsapart.com], 26 February, 2009.

**Multimedia**

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 * This is a thirty minute interview with Sherman Alexie. He talks extensively about his life experiences and what it is like to be an Indian writer.**

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 * Sherman Alexie reads from and comments on his book, //The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian//.**


 * Additional Resources **


 * [|American Indians in Children's Literature]: A website dedicated to identifying and reviewing the portrayal of American Indians in Children's Literature
 * [|Sherman Alexie: Killing Indians: Myths, Lies and Exaggerations.] This is a video of a speech that Sherman Alexie gave about politics, society and 9/11.
 * [|Biography of Sherman Alexie.] This is a biography of Sherman Alexie that was posted to youtube. It is done in a Power Point format.
 * [|Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is banned.] This is a newspaper article published by Helen Jung written for Oregonian about how a parent complaint got Alexie's book temporarily banned.
 * [|The Pacific Inlander talks with Sherman Alexie about the controversy surrounding his book.] This is another article regarding the books banning.
 * [|Sherman Alexie wins the National Book Award.] This is an article published by the Seattle Times about Alexie's book award.
 * [|This is the video of his acceptance speech.]
 * [|The National NAGPRA.] This is a federal law that was passed in 1990. It is a legal process by which museums and Federal agencies can return cultural items to the Native Americans. This site also contains a map of the U.S. reservations, as well as other information.
 * [|Native Life Narratives.] This site has a website for Norma Jean Croy and Leonard Peltier, two Native American political prisioners.
 * [|Homeland.] This is a story that spans three years about four Lakota families living on the same reservation. It is an inspirational story about the families trying to create a better life for their children.
 * [|Living on the Reservation.] This is an article done by William L. Anderson of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute about life on a reservation. He also references 9/11 as Alexie does in the link above.
 * [|Life on the Reservation Part I.] [|Life on the Reservation Part II.] This is a two part video found on youtube. It is a documentary style video in which children describe how they perceive life on the reservation.
 * [|www.fallsapart.com.]This is Sherman Alexie's offical website.
 * [|Poems by Sherman Alexie.] This page has the full text of five of Sherman Alexie's poems.

Reviewed by: Cameron Kutzli Jory Sanders Colby Ensing Crystal England Other Reviews: Feed by M.T. Anderson Smack by Melvin Burgess

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Podcast: media type="file" key="ENG 311 Podcast4.mp3" width="240" height="20"