Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
winner of the 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
winner of the 2008 Boston-Globe Horn Book Award
winner of the 2009 International Book on Books for Young People Sweden - Peter Pan Prize
winner of the 2010 California Young Reader Medal
finalist for the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize
In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live
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"A Native American equivalent of Angela's Ashes."
-Publishers Weekly
"Sure to resonate and lift spirits of all ages for years to come.
Realistic and fantastical and funny and tragic-all at the same time."
-VOYA
"The line between dramatic monologue, verse novel, and standup comedy gets unequivocally-and hilariously and triumphantly-bent in this novel."
-Horn Book
"What emerges most strongly is Junior's uncompromising determination to press on while leaving nothing important behind."
-BCCB
"Few writers are more masterful than Sherman Alexie."
-Los Angeles Times
"Alexie's humor and prose are easygoing and well suited to his young audience."
-Booklist
"Fierce observations and sharp sense of humor...hilarious language."
-Newsday
"Exceptionally good....Arnold is a wonderful character."
-Miami Herald
"[Alexie] has created an endearing teen protagonist in his own likeness and placed him in the here and now."
-Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Deftly taps into the human desire to stand out while fitting in."
-BookPage
"Nimbly blends sharp with unapologetic emotion....fluid narration deftly mingles raw feelings with funny, sardonic insight."
-(starred review)
"This is a gem of a book....may be [Sherman Alexie's] best work yet."
"Breathtakingly honest, funny, profane, sad....will stay with readers."
-KLIATT
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The artist for this book is the incredible Ellen Forney. Here she is with Arnold Spirit, Jr., who looks NOTHING like me.
Photo credit: Jacob Peter Fennell
When Ellen and I first started working on the illustrations for the book, I already had a lot of preexisting ideas. And she followed my directions perfectly. About 1/3 of the way through the project, she and I began to collaborate more, with each of us presenting ideas and offering feedback. That was another 1/3 of the work. And then, for the last 1/3, Ellen had become so familiar with Junior (had become him, really, in artistic terms) that she worked on her own and presented her ideas back to me for comment and revision. The comic strips in the book were completely her original idea. She rough-drafted the art and put in some dialogue. And then I revised the dialogue. I love that she saw Junior in ways that I did not. The last few comic strips, she did completely on her own. I am a huge fan of Ellen's.
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