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More from the teen bestseller list, this time courtesy of my parents. (I have no plans to review the Clique or A-List books, though, just in case you were worried.)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Life hasn’t been easy for Arnold Spirit Jr. First there was the whole being born with extra water in his brain, which gave him a permanently enlarged head. Then there’s living on an Indian reservation, where poverty, unemployment and alcoholism are rampant. This is the story of Junior’s first step towards hope, which he makes by attending school off the reservation, a high school where graduates actually attend college. At school, he’s regarded as a lazy Indian, while at home on the rez, he’s a traitor. This sounds like the set-up for another depressing teen book, but it’s not. Junior has a wicked sense of humor, both about himself and others, and illustrates the story with equally funny cartoons. Despite some pretty grim happenings, we’re rooting for Arnold and laughing through to the end.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Life hasn’t been easy for Arnold Spirit Jr. First there was the whole being born with extra water in his brain, which gave him a permanently enlarged head. Then there’s living on an Indian reservation, where poverty, unemployment and alcoholism are rampant. This is the story of Junior’s first step towards hope, which he makes by attending school off the reservation, a high school where graduates actually attend college. At school, he’s regarded as a lazy Indian, while at home on the rez, he’s a traitor. This sounds like the set-up for another depressing teen book, but it’s not. Junior has a wicked sense of humor, both about himself and others, and illustrates the story with equally funny cartoons. Despite some pretty grim happenings, we’re rooting for Arnold and laughing through to the end.
