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

Reasons for Challenge: Offensive content, including references to masturbation

Born with water on the brain into a poor reservation with an equally lousy school, Arnold Spirit a.k.a. Junior is a bright and talented cartoonist. In fact, it’s his cartoons and his friend Rowdy that keep him going. That is until a teacher impels him to seek out a better education in a white school 22 miles away where the only other Indian is the team mascot. Ironically, he’s accepted by the students there and starts for the school’s basketball team but becomes a pariah to everyone at the rez but his family.

Its protagonists’ clever cartoons make this book a quick, emotional experience. You’ll be drawn  into  its heart-wrenching sorrow and laugh-out-loud comedy. It  pulls no punches in addressing alcoholism and  the life of the poor and deprived, even while its story offers resistance, humor and hope.

Tina Zubak, CLP – Beechview

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