The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie (2007)
“A boy draws cartoons to survive. His reservation wants him to stay. His ambition forces him to leave. Both choices cost him everything.”
At a Glance
Arnold Spirit Jr. — Junior — is a fourteen-year-old Spokane Indian with a list of physical problems and one enormous desire: a future. When he transfers from the reservation school to the all-white Reardan High, he becomes a 'part-time Indian' — belonging fully to neither world. He loses his best friend, watches people die, discovers his own talent for basketball and cartooning, and learns that hope is both the most dangerous and most necessary thing on the reservation.
Read full summary →Why This Book Matters
Won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2007. Consistently ranks as one of the most frequently challenged books in American schools — meaning it's also one of the most commonly assigned. It is the most widely read novel about contemporary Native American life in the school curriculum and arguably the first to reach a mass teenage audience with this specific perspective.
Diction Profile
Deliberately informal — Junior's voice is conversational, self-deprecating, and full of abrupt tonal shifts. Direct address to the reader. Short sentences punctuated by longer ones when emotion requires it.
Moderate