The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

 Alexie, S., & Forney, E. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York: Little, Brown. 

Junior is a young boy who is trying to make a life for himself despite the fact that he has a lot of odds against him; not only is he living in a poor reservation with his family, but he isn't getting proper education, he has some medical issues, and his family is having a hard time holding things together. In order to try to better himself, Junior leaves his reservation to attend a "white" school. He is seen as a traitor and even loses his best friend in the process. He keeps moving forward despite all the bullying this move has caused him, both by adults and kids, and finds out that he did well for himself and gains back the respect and admiration of his family and friends. 

This is not the first time that I read Alexie's book. It is one that I do continue to find enjoyable though, each time I read it, because of the sense of humor included with all the deep lessons. I think that this book, because of some of the topics they talk about, would be best left at 8th grade level. I believe the kids would find it amusing with all the illustrations, but would be old enough to talk about the themes of this novel as well. I think that another novel that could be read after this book would be The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. It is another coming-of-age novel that has a female lead and also discusses leaving one's home in order to start a new life. Teachers would be able to use this as a good starting novel for the year since it isn't too overwhelming and would be able to begin practicing literature groups should they want to incorporate them in their classes.

The following video is a student made production of a book trailer for The Absolutely True Diary or a Part-Time Indian. 

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars!