The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The title is a bit confusing until you read the story of the
boy who leaves the reservation to attend a white school where he struggles to
fit in because he is a native but struggles to maintain relationships with his people
on the reservation because he has left them to go to the white school. He is
part-time Indian and part-time white but always the opposite of what he needs
to be to fit in. Arnold is a freshman in high school when he gets suspended on
the first day of class. He is not a bad kid, but it was a result of his
reaction to seeing that the textbook he was given was the same one assigned to
his mother 20 years before. In his frustration at the circumstances, he throws
the book but hits the teacher in the face! Before his suspension is over the
teacher pays him a visit and tells him to get off the reservation. This is how
he comes to the decision to transfer the school 30 miles away. It is a hard
decision and the circumstances he faces almost cause him to give up on his
dream of getting a better education off the “rez.” By the end of the book most
of the problems have been resolved and Arnold is balancing both worlds.
You May Also Like: Looking for Alaska by John Green or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
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