The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

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Junior lives on an Indian reservation and during the story his sister gets secretly married then moves out. One day one of his teachers tells him that he is smart enough to attend the white school off the reservation so that he can make something of himself. But to his community this is seen as a betrayal. Despite this Junior decides to attend the white school anyway. At this school he is, at first, made fun of for being an Indian off of the reservation and he works hard to create himself a good reputation, at times trying to make everyone think that he has more money than he actually does. While at this school he makes the basketball team, which makes him play against the team from his old school and all of his old friends. When on the court he is bullied by his old team and people from the reservation and it greatly bothers him. Throughout the school year Junior looses friends and family members and has to understand how to cope with these losses. He also makes some true friends in his new school that are willing to take care of him and be there for him. Junior's best friend from the reservation, Rowdy, by the end of the story has forgiven him for leaving the reservation for school and the friends are reunited. 

As mentioned in the textbook there are qualities of good books.(p.56-63) As I was reading in the textbook about these elements, some specific books came to mind from my reading. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the main character is facing a serious societal conflict with leaving the reservation to advance his education.

This story would be good to teach character traits and character development through looking at Junior and Rowdy from the beginning of the story to the end, seeing who they are at the beginning and who they are at the end, as well as how they have changed and what made that change happen.

Citation

Alexie, S. (2009). The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co.