The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Alexie, S.  (2007).  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  New York:  Little, Brown, and Company.  230 pages, $8.99.

Junior knows he deserves more than what his life on the reservation has given him.  Will attending Reardan High School help him attain what he deserves?  Will he be able to find a balance between life on the "rez" and life at Reardan?  Will he find acceptance in both worlds?

Fourteen-year-old Junior is growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation.  Junior is having a hard time on the reservation.  Not only does he have medical problems, but he is also picked on by nearly everyone on the "rez".  Junior has the love of his family, but he knows that he deserves more even though he's grown up with the notion that things will be the way they are and there's nothing he can do about it.  But his math teacher, Mr. P, tells him to go out into the world to make a better life for himself, so with support from his parents, Junior attends Reardan, the all-white school 22 miles away from the rez.  It is clear that Junior was unhappy with his life on the rez, but he doesn't try to do anything about it until Mr. P pointed out how much potential Junior's big sister, Mary, had, but she didn't use it to her advantage.  After graduating from high school, she stayed in her family's basement.  Junior never knew about Mary's potential, and didn't want to end up like her, so he made the decision to transfer schools.  This gave Mary the courage to go out and look for something better for herself, so she also leaves the rez and moves to Montana, where she gets married.  Junior loses his best friend, Rowdy, when he tells him that he will be attending Reardan.  Now he is being treated as a traitor for leaving the rez and thinking he's better than everyone else on the rez and as an outsider by the other students at Reardan.  Junior does use his treatment on the reservation to his advantage at Reardan.  On the rez, everyone picked on him and beat him up, so Junior has been sticking up for himself his whole life.  When Roger, one of the most popular boys on campus, tries to pick on him, Junior, who is known as Arnold at Reardan, punches him, thus earning his respect and that of the other students at Reardan.  He slowly starts to fit in at Reardan.  He starts dating Penelope, the most popular girl at school, becomes friends with Gordy, a smart boy in his science class, and makes the basketball team.  Even though he is doing OK at Reardan, Junior still feels that he's part-time Indian and part-time white.  He has trouble feeling comfortable in both places, but despite hardships (deaths in his family, feeling out of place in both places) Junior perseveres and is successful at Reardan, proving that even though he grew up believing that he didn't deserve better than what he has, he can make a better life for himself.

When I first saw the title of this book, I had the idea that it was going to be about someone who is part Indian and part another nationality, so I was a little wrong.  It was about a boy who tries to make a better life for himself by attending an all-white school where he is the only Indian on campus.  Junior feels like he has two jobs:  one is fitting in with his Indian heritage and the other job is filling in with his white school mates.  It was nice to see Junior try to make things better for himself even though, in a way, he was going against what his tribe finds acceptable.  He showed a tremendous amount of bravery.  It was interesting how he used his treatment on the rez helped get him respect at Reardan when he punched Roger.  Junior's life did end up better because he earned good grades and he starred on the basketball team.  He got what he wanted even though it was tough.  It was interesting to learn that this book is based on the life of the author, Sherman Alexie.

This book won the Odyssey Award for the audio version.  It is also the winner of the National Book Award.  Among other awards, it is also a New York Times Notable Book (2007), a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Reviews Best YA book (2007), and a BBYA Top 10 Book for Teens.  Visit Sherman Alexie's website, http://www.fallsapart.com/index.html, to find out more about him and other books, stories, and poems he has written.  You can look at http://www.ellenforney.com/ to find out more about the illustrator of this book, Ellen Forney.

Sherman Alexie, author

Ellen Forney, illustrator

a collection of stories
& poems about
self-preservation &
external responsibility



collection of poems



The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keattey Snyder

Snyder, Z.K.  (1967).  The Egypt Game.  New York:  Antheneum Books.  215 pages, $6.99

A love of ancient Egypt brings Melanie Ross and April Hall together, and they become unlikely friends.  With their love and knowledge of ancient Egypt, they come up with a game, but how does that game become a reality?  Have Melanie and April taken their imaginations too far?

Melanie doesn't know if she and April will be friends.  April has just moved in with her grandma while her mom is busy with her movie career in Hollywood, but she will soon be in touch with April so that she can move back with her.  Melanie isn't sure April will fit in with the other students at her school.  She puts her hair up in a messy ponytail, wears false eyelashes, and has a feather boa, and Melanie is worried about whether or not April will fit in with the other students.  Can she get the other students to accept her?  Melanie doesn't have to worry too much about this because the other students accept April and all her quirkiness.

Through their common interest in ancient Egypt, Melanie and April come up with a game about Egypt that they play after school and during the weekends.  It has even expanded to include more people, and their ideas become more elaborate and complete with costumes, ceremonies, and a secret code.  Everyone enjoys the game, until strange things start happening with their ceremonies.  Can these modern-day Egyptians figure out how these things are happening?  Have they taken their game too far?

I liked how April's and Melanie's friendship grew.  The girls became unlikely friends through their common interest in ancient Egypt.  Melanie knew she had a good friend in April, and she wanted her classmates to feel the same way about her and accept her albeit her quirkiness.  Melanie did not want April to give up who she was, but she did what she could to help her fit in and be accepted by their classmates.  April also got accustomed to her new life, school, and friends without giving up who she really was.  Their classmates also learned to accept April, quirks and all.

When I first saw this book, I thought my sixth grade English students might be interested in it because they study ancient Egypt in their social studies class, so I thought it would be a great extension for them and a way to make connections between their English and social studies classes.  I thought the title, which refers to the game that Melanie and April invent, would catch their attention.

The Egypt Game is a Newbery Honor Book.  It is also an ALA Notable Book and won first prize at the Spring Book Festival in New York in 1967.  It also won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award and in 1973 it won the George C. Stone Recognition of Merit. 

Other books by Zilpha Keattey Snyder include William S. and the Great Escape, The Witches of Worm (also a Newbery Honor book), The Headless Cupid (a Newbery Honor Book), The Treasures of Weatherby, and The Bronze Pen.  Visit http://www.zksnyder.com/ to learn about the author and to check out some of her other titles.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Lowry, L.  (1989).  Number the stars.  New York:  Yearling.  137 pages, $6.99

Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen are best friends who have seen firsthand the changes going on in their town of Copenhagen since the Nazis have occupied their town, and now they are experiencing the danger for themselves, and Annemarie has to find the courage within herself to help her friend.

This is the story of Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen, who have been best friends for as long as they can remember.  They long for the times before the war and before the Nazis occupied Copenhagen.  They miss the carefree days when they simply went to school, played, and didn’t have to worry about much, and they cannot wait for the days when the German soldiers will be gone from their town and they can go back to their normal lives which includes coffee and sugar.  Then they learn that the Jews are being relocated, so Ellen, being a Jew, goes into “hiding” and moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of their family while her parents also go into hiding.  She must be apart from her parents until it’s safe to be together again.  The Johansens know that what is happening to the Jews is wrong, and they are more than willing to do what they can to help their friends and stand up for what is right.  Even Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to help her friend, learning what it means to be a good friend and a good person in general.  Annemarie wants to know the truth about what is happening, but she learns that sometimes knowing the truth can get you into trouble, so it's better not to know the truth to help a person to be brave.  It is through these circumstances that Annemarie matures and grows up, and she realizes that sometimes it's good not to know the entire truth.

I'm glad I got a chance to read this book.  I'm not big on history, but historical fiction makes history more interesting for me.  It gave information about how people stood up for what was wrong in order to fight injustice and help their friends.  Even though I'm familiar with World War II, it  makes it more interesting when I can get an idea of how people might have felt during these difficult and frightening times.  This helps me picture myself in their shoes and makes me wonder what I would have done if I were in their situation. 

As a middle school student, I didn't read this book because it didn't interest me or catch my attention.  The title didn't have much to do with the summary I read, but I knew it had something to do with the Star of David, being that there's a necklace of it on the front cover.  Then I read the part where Peter (who is part of a group of people who are helping Jews escape to safety) reads a passage from the Bible that mentions number the stars, it made more sense.  As Peter read the passage, it seemed as though he was praying to God and asking God to protect them and the Jewish people as they make their way to safety, so the title refers not only to the Jewish people but also to the people who were standing up for what is right and going against what is wrong in order to help not only friends but also strangers who were treated unjustly.

This book won the John Newbery Medal as well as the National Jewish Book Award, the National Jewish Libraries Award, and the Sidney Taylor Award.  For more information on Lois Lowry and other books by her, visit her website at http://www.loislowry.com/.  You can also visit  http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/lowry to watch an interview as she talks about how she became a writer and about her books. 

Other books by Lois Lowry include The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, A Summer to Die, Silent Boy, and Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Avi.  (1990).  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  New York:  Harper Trophy.  278 pages, $6.99

Thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle is the only passenger and the only female passenger on a transatlantic voyage from Liverpool, England to Providence, Rhode Island.  With her couth upbringing in mind, will she ba able to stand up for what is right when she is caught between a murderous captain and a mutinous crew?

Mr. Grummage has strict instructions from Charlotte Doyle's father:  to  make sure that she boards the Seahawk, a ship headed for Prividence led by Captain Andrew Jaggery.  She is to join two other families aboard the Seahawk on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean to Providence.  When Mr. Grummage and Charlotte make it to the port, they learn that the other two families will not be on the voyage because they did not make it on time.  Against Charlotte's protests as well as protests from the first mate, Mr. Grummage makes Charlotte board the ship to make the journey across the Atlantic.  Charlotte feels alone and uncomfortable as the only [female] passenger on board, and she finds her accommodations far less than what she is accustomed to, but she remembers who she is and what her father and family would want.  At her father's urging, she keeps a journal of her voyage.  Zachariah, the ships eldest crew member who is also the cook and black, tries to befriend her and gives her a knife, advising her to keep it close to her at all times.  Charlotte decides to keep it under her mattress in her cabin.  When she meets Captain Jaggery, she feels comfortable with him, particularly because he works for her father, who owns the shipyard that owns the Seahawk.  She knows that things will be OK as long as she is in good terms with Captain Jaggery.  He tells her that he needs to keep order and asks her to be his eyes and ears when she is around the crew.  As time passes, Charlotte starts to be helpful to them, but she discovers a gun in a crew member's trunk and a Round Robin.  When she first spoke to Captain Jaggery, he told her that he had the only access to any weapons on the ship (muskets that he kept locked in his cabin).  He also explained that a Round Robin is similar to a contract that the crew sign to pledge to overtake a ship.  Charlotte knows that the right thing to do is to tell the captain what she discovered, but she also knows that this means betraying the crew that she has grown fond of.  She decides to tell him, but realizes that she made a mistake when Captain Jaggery kills a stowaway, a former crew member, and orders Zachariah to take the blame for it by getting flogged, leading to his death.  In trying to atone for what she did, Charlotte wants to become a member of the crew, so she proves herself to them by climbing the the rigging to the highest part of the ship.  She is treated as a crew member, but then is accused of murdering Hollybrass, Captain Jaggery's first mate, during a storm.  Charlotte is put on trial and found guilty.  While in the brig awaiting to be hung, Charlotte finds Zachariah on board (he never died) and learns that he plans to inform the authorities that Captain Jaggery is the one who murdered Hollybrass when they reach Providence.  Through complications and fighing, Captain Jaggery falls overboard and Charlotte becomes captain, but Zachariah is in charge.  When they land in Providence, Charlotte meets her family, only to feel trapped and inhibited in her old life.  What is worse is that her father refuses to talk about her journey and confines Charlotte to her room to "rest".  Charlotte convinces one of her servants to bring her the daily newspaper and discovers that the Seahawk will be setting sail with one of her beloved crew members as the captain, so she decides that she will be on board the Seahawk.

At first, I thought this book was going to be difficult to get into, and the first chapter was a little difficult to understand, but once I got used to the language and the way they talked, it was much easier to read, understand, and enjoy.  I was surprised at first when Charlotte decided to betray the crew members by telling Captain Jaggery about their plans to take over the Seahawk.  I felt as though she thought she was better than they were even though they had clearly accepted, befriended, and trusted her.  She betrayed their trust and friendship, but I liked that she atoned for what she did by taking on the challenge and succeeding.  She realized that they were her freinds and that she was no better than they were.  This truly showed that she was sorry and wanted to  make things right with the crew.  I also thought that she would feel trapped when she returned to her family in Providence.  I did not think she would be able to go back to her former life and stay with her family and her former life after what she had been through.  She had been through too much and seen too much to be able to go back to the priviledged life she used to lead.  I think she made the right decision by going back to the Seahawk.

When I first saw this book, I thought it might have been a fictionalized account of what someone did and it would be of her confessing her situation and telling her story, but the title actually refers to Charlotte's journal that her father asked her to keep to keep her skills sharp on her long voyage to return to her family.  Her father's request actually backfired for him because he did not want to Charlotte to keep it and even burned it.  It seemed like he wanted to hide what had happened to her and wanted her to forget.  This makes Charlotte see her father in a whole new way, and she realizes that he is not the person she thought he was because he does not want to believe what she wrote and what happened on her voyage.

This book is a Newbery Honor Book.  Avi, the author, also won the Newbery Medal for CRISPIN:  The Cross of the Lead and won honor for Nothing but the Truth.  Visit Avi's website at http://www.avi-writer.com/index.html to learn more about him and to check out other titles he's written.

Nothing by Jannes Teller

Teller, J.  (2010).  Nothing.  New York:  Antheneum Books for Young Readers.  227 pages, $16.99.

How are are a class of seventh graders willing to go to prove to Pierre Anthon that everything they do and everything they have is important, is worth something, is worth the effort, and matters?

Nothing is about a group of seventh graders in Taering.  On their first day of seventh grade, Pierre Anthon decides that whatever effort they put into anything is eventually meaningless and does not matter, so nothing is worth the effort and nothing matters.  Pierre is constantly reminding them of this from the plum tree where he spends his time throwing plums at them.  At first the students try to reason with him, but he will not accept their logic, so they want to prove him wrong.  They get together in the sawmill and put together a collection of items that are important and truly matter to them.  They take turns thinking about each other and what really matters to them and having each other bring in items that they decide are truly important and matter.  Their collection starts off simple with actual items such as shoes and a bike, but as the students lose their most prized possessions, the items become far more involved and more personal (prayer mats, innocence, finger).  The students make the media and press aware of what they have collected, and they get attention for what they have done.  An American museum even offers to buy their collection, calling it a true work of art.  Pierre still insists that their collection does not matter, especially since they decided to sell it to the museum.  He insists that if the items truly mattered to them, they would not have sold the collection.  This really gets to the students, and they brutally and fatally take out their anger and frustrations on him.

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was weird, but interestingly weird, and as I continued reading it became more and more troublesome, dark, and haunting, but I could not put it down.  I found it surprising that the students were able to convince each other to give up their most prized possessions just to prove a point, and no one could talk them out of choosing a different object to add to the collection.  I was very shocked when they started having each other give up things that they really shouldn't (innocence and fingers?!).  What was also surprising was they way they justified their choices.  "Are you saying that his finger doesn't matter?"  After saying that, it was as though they had been defeated and it was hard for them to argue that what matters to someone is no less important than what matters to someone else and no one was able or willing to speak against the group about what they were doing.  This was horrifying.  I think the students got caught up in trying to "one-up" each other to sacrifice what was important to them, so they weren't really thinking logically.  I think the title is appropriate because in a way they ended up with nothing to show for what they did.

This book won honor for the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.  It is also an honor book for the Batchelder Award, which is an award for an outstanding book in a language other than English.  It was translated by Martin Aitken.  Nothing is Teller's first Young Adult novel, and it is the winner of the Best Children's Book Prize from the Danish Cultural Ministry and the Le Prix Libbylit for the best children's novel in the French-speaking world.  Other books by Jannes Teller include Odin's Island, The Trampling Cat, and Come.  Visit Jannes Teller at her website at http://www.janneteller.dk/?English.

Jannes Teller (author of Nothing)

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Bray, L.  (2009).  Going Bovine.  New York:  Delacorte Press.  480 pages, $9.99

Sixteen-year-old Cameron Smith is trying to get through high school (and life) with the least amount of effort.  Will being diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease help him realize that there is more to life than just getting by?

Cameron Smith is not interested in being at the top of his class, being popular, or making his parents proud.  He just wants to geth through high school and life with the least amount of effort.  But then he starts to lose control of his muscle movements and has hallucinations, particularly a winged angel.  When he punches a fellow classmate, his parents take him to their doctor.  After a battery of tests and talking to specialists, psychiatrists, and psychologists, Cameron is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease (mad cow), for which there is no cure.  Dulcie, the winged angel he keeps seeing, convinces him that there is a cure, but he just has to go out and find it.  Determined to find a cure, Cameron, with help from Gonzo, a video-gaming dwarf and Balder, a yard gnome, sets out on a road trip to find a cure for his disease.  Dulcie's appears to him sporadically, but her only help is to follow the "signs".  On their road trip, Cameron experiences life and realizes that he actually does care about himself, his family, and his new friends (Gonzo and Balder).  He also realizes that there is more to life than just getting by and that life is worth living.  Is it too late to Cameron to enjoy and appreciate his life?

At first, I had a hard time keeping up with this book and following the plot, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did because I really liked the book.  It helped that I did a little bit of research about Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease.  It was interesting to see Cameron change his attitude about how he approaches life.  At first, he didn't really care about anything (grades, friends, or family), but as his trip continued, he realized what was really important.  He even found friendship in the unlikeliest of people, and he actually let himself experience life and love and saw how important his family really is to him.  It was just too bad that he realized it a little too late.

When I first heard about this book, I thought, "Doesn't bovine refer to cows?", and then when I read it and realized that Cameron is diagnosed with Creutzfelt-Jakob's disease (AKA mad cow disease), I realized how the title fit in with the story.  I think that in a way, it was Cameron's way of dealing with his disease.  As I was reading and got to know Cameron, I feel that he would have said something like, "Hey, I'm going bovine!" when talking to people about his disease, as though it was his way of making it sound cool, even though he didn't really care much for fitting in, he still wanted to save face and not draw too much attention to himself.

Going Bovine won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.  It was also a Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year book and an amazon.com Best Book of the Year book. 

Libba Bray, the author of Going Bovine

You can find more information about the book at http://www.goingbovine.com/ and about the author at http://www.libbabray.com/.  Other books by the author include A Great and Terrible Beauty and The Sweet Far Thing.