Alexie Goodness
I just finished, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This is for my “How to teach reading” course, a prereq. for the teaching licensure program at CSU. It’s adolescent literature. I started it last night and got about 44 pages in. I just finished it tonight (224 pages in all). Good stuff.
It was great fun reading an adolescent lit book and I’m already a big fan of Alexie’s short stories. We had to come up with five comments/questions about the piece, from a teaching point of view. Here are the five I came up with tonight:
- I enjoyed the short chapters and the brisk/crisp style of the book. It was so easy to get into, to get through each section. Great for adolescent readers.
- Another thing that makes it a good choice for teens is the content and language. Alexie doesn’t shy away from teenage lingo nor does he downplay the things that might be important to a teenager. When I read it, I found myself relating to a lot of what Junior was going through, even though I had grown up in a predominantly white community (and a girl no less, geesh)! I think we can understand what Junior is going through, even though his plights take on epic proportion compared to my own, he’s relatable.
- I loved the focus on sports in the book. I’m usually not a fan, but for any sports-minded teens, they’ll get a lot from that aspect.
- A Fairy Tale? It certainly read like one at times, but it had heart. I think the difference is that the princess in the tower is beyond our reach. Junior is not. We can root for him without placing him upon a pedestal.
- I liked the fact that Alexie didn’t go for too much dramatic formula. Sure, there’s some, but what conflict is truly original? I’m speaking about the fact that he doesn’t torture the protagonist in a cruel and unusual way. We get to experience the joys right along with Junior.
At any rate, a good read. I highly recommend it for a fast, easy, delightful read. This is one book I would definitely teach a class of middle-school/high school students.
