The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

                              By Sherman Alexie

"They worry about me. They talk to me. And best of all, they listen to me."

                                      -Part-time Indian 

                                                                                                      Sherman Alexie

 General Information:  Available in: Hardcover, Audio Book, & Paperback

                                   230 pages

                                   Author: Sherman Alexie 

                                   Art by: Ellen Forney

Summary:

 The story is about a 14 year old boy named Arnold Spirit Jr. He lives on the Spokane Reservation in the state of Washington. He is the biggest loser on the reservation. He is extremely disproportioned, he is skinny with large hands and large feet. He has eye issues, ten more teeth than nomal, brain damage and he often has seizures. He is always made fun of because of how he looks. Arnold only has one friend, named Rowdy who enjoys to beat people up. On the first day of school, in math class, Arnold sees the math book he has belonged to his mom. He gets so mad that the reservation is so poor that he throws the book at his teacher and breacks the teaches nose. This action gets him expelled. He goes to a new school called Rearden Junior High. This school is full of white people and Junior (Arnold's nickname) is one of the very few Indians who go there. There he meets new people such as Penelope and Gordy. Junior's life changes as he meets new people and makes different friends at his new school, but his life at home is affecting him quite a bit during his new life at Rearden.

This book was a laugh. Junior's character was a riot and so were the multiple cartoons in the book depicting characters and places. This book is great, but can be vulgar at times.

Sherman Alexie was interviewed by the National Book Forum and there is a discussion guide for this book to help start discussions.

The Spokane Indians love baseball. Their team is called the Spokane Indians and plays in the Northwest League of Professional Baseball.

This is a podcast about the book from NPR, the National Public Radio.