I didn't actually love this 2007 National Book Award winner. The story is about Arnold, who is an Indian growing up on the Skokane Indian reservation. Arnold decides to attend an all-white school in the neighboring town, to escape the hopelessness that engulfs the reservation. Bullied by both groups, the kids at the all-white school and the kids on the Indian reservation, Arnold manages to triumph amid great tragedies. I thought Arnold's story was incredibly sad. In the beginning of the book, Arnold is describing the poverty he lives in stating " my parents came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people. Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor." With frequent references to alcoholism and the destructive consequences that come from it , the author deals with some serious issues; but manages to throw humor into the story in a way that comes off pretty funny. Sherman Alexis first novel is a good one; he has written an original story about Indian culture that allows students to experience what life on a reservation is like.Alexis is able to give readers an understanding of the hopelessness of everyday life on the rez, which I have never come across in any other Y/A fiction. The story is explicit though; seems like every chapter mentions Arnold masturbating. According to our Y/A Literature text, qualities that make good Y/A books address issues that teenagers can identify with, are explicitly informing, and are relevant and entertaining - and The Diary of a Part-time Indian does all of those things.
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