The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Alan will be teaching middle school in the fall and has been reading YA and children's novels to familiarize himself with what books are out there to recommend to his future students. I went to the library for him and came home with a stack of a dozen that I had loved, including Sherman Alexie's novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Alan and I both had read it a couple years ago and loved it. We had agreed Isaac was too young to read it because of the content, but time made these instances in the novel fuzzy in my mind. I told Alan I'd reread it to see if it'd make the cut.

. This novel is such a great read. It's the story of Junior, an Indian boy who lives the reservation to go to school in an all-white school. Junior is the classic underdog character, but tells his tale with wit. The book is both very funny and very sad, bringing out a range of feelings, which I love in a novel. Call me strange, but I like a little melancholy sprinkled into a humorous book. I also love the way it delves into the complex race relations between whites and Indians. I walked away from the book the first time feeling like I truly learned how someone out there feels and that is a testament to the power of rich, well-written characters. It is no wonder that this novel won the National Book Award.