Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Arnold "Junior" Spirit has always been something of an outcast.  Born with various medical conditions, Junior has been made fun of by nearly every other kid on the Spokane Indian Reservation.  With his glasses, abnormally big head and serious lack of muscles, Junior is an easy target.  But while Junior might be goofy-looking and scrawny, he has plenty of good things going for him.  He's got a decent jump shot, a powerful talent for cartooning, a best friend, and a loving (if imperfect) family.  And most of all, Junior has dreams.  He dreams of getting an actual education--from a school where the textbooks aren't the same ones his mom used a couple decades ago.  Even more importantly, Junior dreams of demanding more from life than mere survival.  He dreams about getting off the "rez" and escaping the cycle of unhappiness and disappointment that seems to trap all the adults in his life. 

So when his teacher suggests that he look into attending the all-white, public school in the nearby farming town, Junior decides to take the plunge and give his dreams a shot--even though he's sure the attempt will end in disaster.  Now, Junior must learn to navigate a whole new world where the only other Indian is the school mascot--while everyone on the rez (except his parents & grandmother) have decided that he's a traitor.  Even his best friend refuses to speak to him.  How can Junior escape the bad parts of life on the rez without leaving behind his heritage or his family?  How can he make all the pieces of his identity fit into his divided life?

Brilliant author, poet, and screenwriter Sherman Alexie blew the literary world away when he published his first novel for young adults in 2007.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has gone on earn a National Book Award, a place on many must-read book lists of teens & adults alike, and space in many middle and high school English curriculums across the country.  But what's the best thing about Diary? It actually lives up to the hype--and it has yet to lose its emotional power or relevance.

Told through Junior's alternatively hilarious and heartbreaking words and cartoons, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an engrossing coming of age story that explores identity, family, friendship, and love with unmatched humor and honesty.  Jumping from basketball and girls to racism and alcoholism, the story doesn't back down from taking on tricky topics--but it never becomes melodramatic and the reader never stops cheering for Junior.  While Diary deals most directly and extensively with Native American and male identities, Junior's struggle to sort his own multfaceted identity amidst stereotypes and others' negative (and positive) expectations will resonsate with everyone. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will make you laugh, cry, smile, and sigh.  Junior's story is one that sticks will you long after you've closed the book.  And it's a perfect book to read as we close November--Native American Heritage Month. 

Run over to the library today to grab our copy of Sherman Alexie's National Book Award winning novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, on display in the fiction section!

 

 

To learn even more about Native Americans--both in the past and the present--check out the National Museum of the American Indian, right here in DC!  The museum's website alone has amazing resources, including outside links, online collections, and multimedia presentations about Native American history and perspectives from a huge variety of modern Native Americans. 

Sample Some Deliciously Fresh Reads This Thanksgiving Break!

The first few months have school here at NCS have flown by at an unbelievable rapid pace! Now, Thanksgiving Break is already right around the corner.

For most of us, Thanksgiving will mean a few days off from classes, a lot of good food, and extra time to spend with family and friends.  It can also mean a chance to catch up some non-required reading! Not sure which new book to start first?  The NCS Library is here to help! 

Check out our Thanksgiving Break 2012 book list, chock full of recently published literary gems! Click the link above to see and/or download a pdf of the list OR stop by the library to glance over a print copy.

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Cate Cahill made a promise. She promised her dying mother that she would protect her sisters--at all costs. The task would be a lot easier however if their family didn't have quite so many dangerous secrets. Their small New England town already finds the Cahill sisters' education and reclusive behaviors suspicious but if anyone were to discover that the three girls are honest to goodness witches, their lives would be over.  Especially since every day the priests of the Brotherhood round up more and more girls accused of witchcraft and send them away to the asylum. 

As if that weren't enough to preoccupy Cate, her seventeenth birthday is fast approaching, which means that in just a few months Cate will have to decide if she's going to get married or join the Sisterhood. Neither option seems appealing right now, especially since both might separate her from her sisters.  Then the discovery of her mother's diary throws Cate's world even more off balance: it turns out that being witches isn't the Cahill girls' biggest secret. Now Cate must race to find the truth about her family's destiny before powerful forces find ways to use her or her sisters for their own interests and in the process perhaps finally take the time to discover the desires of her own heart.

As teenager facing the transition into adulthood and a sudden, unusual influx of responsibilities, Cate will be a familiar figure to readers of all ages. She tries so hard to balance and protect her sisters' safety and happiness but she's also forced herself to ignore her individual potential. But Cate is limited by more than her own family responsibilities and worries; she lives in society where women's power and independence have been extremely curtailed by a male dominated religious order led by the Brotherhood priests.

The world imagined by Jessica Spotswood is one of the highlights of the novel. She seeds the information about the society and history into the narrative, allowing the full picture to emerge gradually and through the characters' pertinent experiences. This method, as usual, works well and avoids weighing down the pace of the story with too lengthy descriptions of traditions or historical events. My only problem was that I found the fictional world so intriguing that I keep wanting more detail! Born Wicked takes place in an alternative universe in which witches and magic truly exist and the United States began when witches left other areas of the world to avoid persecution and colonized the eastern coast of the current U.S. As a result, the population is even more ethnically and racially diverse. However, the religious Brotherhood gained influence and wrested control from the female-run Daughters of Persephone; now, women must either get married or join the female monastic branch of the Brotherhood, in order to control their potential evil.

However, it was not just the intriguing setting and the strong protagonist that drew me into this novel. The supporting characters and the relationships between the characters are well drawn; the complicated relationship between the three sisters is especially realistic in its portrayal. The plot's mysteries and tension grow increasingly exciting as the story moves forward and the novel's pacing pulls the reader in quickly. The romance is sweet and swoon-worthy.  Cate's understanding of her desires emerges naturally and her realizations happen as part of her larger awakenings about her world, her magical abilities, and her options for the future. The tension reaches a dramatic peak near the novel's conclusion that will leave readers eager for the next installment of Cate's tale.

I would recommend Born Wicked to readers who enjoy supernatural or paranormal tales (especially those with witches) and fantasy, especially historical fantasy. It might pair well with other historical fantasy novels such as A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce and The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton or with fantasy novels depicting similar family situations (Entwined by Heather Dixon springs to mind).

 

Come by the library today to grab your copy and fall under the spell of Jessica Spotswood's debut novel Born Wicked, the first book in the Cahill Witch Chronicles!