|
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews
|
Booktalk
#1
Arnold Spirit, aka Junior,
is a Spokane Indian from Wellpinit, WA living on the rez. He is a
goofy looking kid and the target of bullies. He is dirt poor and
has little hope of ever changing anything. That's the way it is on
the rez. When Arnold's teacher suggests that he go to school in the
nearby town instead of the rez school, everything changes. Arnold
now travels 20 miles each way, sometimes on foot, to get to the school.
At first, the kids just see the goofy looking Indian boy. His only
friend is a geeky kid who is also an outcast. And back on the rez,
Arnold is seen as a traitor to the rez. When Arnold makes the basketball
team, things change -- but not necessarily for the better. But with
Arnold's sense of humor and his comics, I just know he'll be OK.
Booktalk #2
It all started my freshman
year in High School on the day I hit Mr. P in the head with my geometry
book. Okay, maybe it all really started when I was born with water on the
brain. Well actually with excess cerebral spinal fluid inside my skull
which is sort of like brain grease that we all need, but I had too much
and my brain was like drowning in grease.
I wasn’t supposed to survive
the surgery I had at 6 months old, and should have lived all my life as
a vegetable, but apparently even then I was a fighter. Oh, I have all sorts
of physical problems, like ten extra teeth that had to be removed and thick
ugly black plastic framed eyeglasses and huge feet, and a huge skull, and
brain seizures for years, but I got through it all and hadn’t had a seizure
in seven years.
And, of course, I belong to
the Black-Eye-of-the-Month club because everyone on the rez (yep, you got
it, I’m an Indian) calls me a retard about twice a day and retards on the
rez get beat up at least once a month.
I draw a lot because words
are tool limited and unpredictable and it’s safer to stay at home and read
and draw. It’s my way of talking to the world. To have dreams of growing
up to be somebody important.
I’m smart too, and that had
something to do with it. You see Mr. P, the geometry teacher, the one who
sometimes forgets to come to school, had just handed out our new geometry
books for the year. But inside the front cover it said;
THIS BOOK BELONGS TO AGNES
ADAMS.
Agnes is my mother’s first
name, and Adams is her last name. I couldn’t believe it. Our tribe is so
poor that we had to use the same books our parents did. I was so upset
I just threw the book as hard as I could. I wanted to hit something, and
Mr. P happened to be in the way.
Of course I got suspended,
but a week into my suspension, Mr. P walked up our driveway and had a talk
with me. He had a bit bandage on his face and He apologized to ME!!! He
felt he had left us all (us Indians) down and had taught us to give up,
which most of us had. But that he felt I had a chance. That the reason
I threw the book was because somewhere inside I refused to give up. Just
like when I was a baby and should have died. I needed to get off the reservation
and find hope. I could do it, he said.
And, that’s how I decided
to leave the reservation school and go to the all white rich school at
Reardan. That’s how I, in the eyes of all my friends at the rez, became
a traitor. And how I . . . well, that’s another story
(Sam Marsh, Colorado
Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Nominees 2009)
Booktalk #3
Absolutely true? As readers
share Junior’s experiences on the reservation and at the all-white high
school in the nearby town, they might wonder how much worse adolescence
could possibly be. Is this really the true story of Sherman Alexie’s high
school life? Or does Alexie use fiction to depict the miseries of his own
teen years and achieve control over the unexaggerated painful memories?
Ironic humor and wit allow Junior to tell the tales of his struggle to
rise above his life’s circumstances and even to draw strength from his
misfortune. The skillful writing allows readers to the hardships and empathize
with Junior and his friend.
Although Alexie’s previous
books were directed to adult audiences, the short story collection The
Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist-fight in Heaven, and Smoke Signals, the film
derived from it, have had many teen fans. Alexie has given his readers
a realistic view of some of the challenges he faced as a Native American
teen, and a glimpse into the successful life he has achieved through his
introspective and powerful story-telling.
(Marge Erickson Freeburn ,
Colorado Blue
Spruce Young Adult Book Award Nominees 2009) |
