The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Whenever I come across a list of banned books, I'm surprised to see this one at or near the top. The 14-year-old protagonist is funny. Since it's semi-autobiographical, I learned a bit about Native American history, life on the Spokane Indian Reservation, and what the main character experiences attending a white racist school a few miles from the reservation.

I read this book years ago and should reread it. I was much younger then. We change as we grow; despite that, I believe my feelings toward the main character would remain sympathetic because it's a struggle to fit in and… show more.

Arnold, known as Junior, is a fourteen-year-old aspiring artist from the Spokane Indian Reservation, who tells us his story in a combination of hilarious cartoons and acerbic narration. Junior’s intimate self-revelations shocked me with their brutal honesty; this kid holds nothing back! Which is why younger readers are so in love with this character and this book: he tells all the things about being a teenager that most young people are too afraid to see. In the end, this is the most honest examination of identity that I know of. What does it mean to be Indian? American? Human and… show more.

I shed tears about 16 times reading this book, half from laughing and half from crying. This book is about a Native American teenager, Arnold, who decides to move from his reservation school to the public school in his rural Washington town. His self-deprecating humor, which includes cartoons he draws, is laugh-out-loud funny. The reflections he shares about his family and his new classmates are absurd, as Arnold is the classic “I use humor to cope” kind of human. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is full of hope, but the struggles he faces along the way are… show more.