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

Image from Barnes & Noble

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Print. ISBN-13: 9780316013680. Hardcover. Cost: $20.00.

Awards:
-2007 National Book Award Winner
-2007 Publisher's Weekly "Off the Cuff" Awards: Favorite YA Novel
-2007 School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
-2007 Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year
-2007 Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of the Year
-2007 Kirkus Reviews Best YA Books
-NYPL Books for the Teen Age 2008

Annotation:
Being who you are is usually a full-time job, without any time off. But what if you could reduce your own hours, try being someone a little different for a while?

Booktalk:
Junior Spirit is a tough kid. Okay, not tough like his best friend Rowdy who can beat someone up by looking at them real hard. But tough in the way he can keep getting beat up and knocked down and still gets back up in the hope that maybe he can get off of his reservation and not be just another drunk Indian like too many others he knows. Born with “water on the brain” and other issues, like stuttering, that get him picked on, Junior is a smart, witty boy with a love of drawing and learning, leading him to pluck up the courage to transfer to a school with better education. The only drawback is that he is the only Native American student and his rez feels like he abandoned them.  Follow an Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as Junior navigates life, love, and loss during his freshman year of high school.