Title: The Absolutely Diary of a Part Time Indian
Author/s: Sherman A Slexie;
Illustrated by Ellen Forney
Summary/Review
This is a heartwarming story of Arnold Spirit Jr., a fourteen -year
old Native American young man, who grew up in in the Spokane Indian Reservation
in Wellpinit, Wash. Most of the people who live at the reservation are terribly
poor. As Arnold narrates, “My parents
came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people.”When he
opens his first geometry book at school, Junior finds the name of his mother
written on the flyleaf, “…so poor and sad that we had to study from the same
day books our parents studied from,” Junior says.
Junior was born with water on his brain that caused him a
series of physical problems resulting from brain damage. He is skinny, with one
farsighted eye, another nearsighted eye, he has to wear “ugly, thick, black
plastic” eyeglasses. Junior has enlarged head, huge hands and feet. Because of
his handicaps, this causes him to stutter and lisp, which makes him the object
of ridicule and teasing and being picked on by his peers.
Following the advice of his math teacher, Mr.P, he transfers
to Reardan High, 22 miles away and full of wealthy white kids, equipped with
computers and chemistry labs. In his new school, in spite the fact that he is
the only Indian, he wins the heart of the beauteous white girl Penelope.
Back at the reservation, Junior is considered a traitor. When
Reardan plays Wellpinit High in basketball, the Indians throw so much abuse on
Arnold and a riot nearly breaks out. His ex-best friend Rowdy, described as
“red-necked” punches him on the face. To avoid being ridiculed and beaten up
regularly, he spend a lot of his time in his room, reading books and drawing
cartoons.
Junior’s toughness helps him overcome all these obstacles. He
learns that though he is poor, he still has his education and his new friends.
He soon earns their respect as well as a spot on the varsity basketball team.
The book recounts the trial of a Native American teenager,
Arnold “Junior” Spirit, during his freshman year on an Indian Reservation.
Sherman Alexie uses humor to soften the difficult and full of emotional high
and lows of Arnold’s story.
The story explores the struggle to survive between the Indians
and white worlds. It touches on poverty that borders on racism, “It sucks to be
poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor because you’re
stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly
because you’re Indian. And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re
destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about
it.”
Junior’s story is told by his first-person perspective. His
optimism and hope shines through all the pages of the book. It teaches you to
never give up, always have hope , and dream big dreams.
