The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie was a phenomenal read. This book hits on absolutely everything and anything that a teenager could go through. I loved how this book was set in Spokane. I think this adds such an authentic element to the book. I personally remember driving through Reardan. I remember driving through this town as a child on my way to a family vacation spot. I love how in this book, we see everything from Junior's point of view. This gives the book a naive and sentimental feel. I think this would personally be a great book to teach. It's a great coming of age novel and I think students would have fun drawing their own comic. This would be a great way to connect kinesthetic learners and visual learners to this unit. Students could draw a comic of their life or any specific event. This way they could be drawing along side of Junior. I think this book would be a great discussion material as well. There are great discussions that could be held about this when it comes to cultural elements. While reading this book, I could not believe that this was one of the most banned books in schools. Yes, it does have some iffy parts, and yes there is cussing and inappropriate references. However, this is told through a teenager's point of view. It's a stream of consciousness type of feel. I feel like everything that is referenced in this book is nothing new to what a 15 year old boy already thinks. I think that there are enough important themes in this book that you could definitely argue it being taught in schools. This book is a great one and one that should be read in everyone's lifetime. Alexie gets across so many themes with coming of age, cultural differences, and change all in an extremely accessible and enjoyable way.