The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I finally got around to reading Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature back in 2007 and I've been hearing fantastic things about it ever since.

Wow, talk about a one-two punch.

The narrator of the tale, Junior, is now quite possibly one of my favorite characters. Ever. He will break your heart with his story even as he leaves you in stitches. He's funny and fearless and lovably human. And though hardly immune to his circumstances, nevertheless he forges resolutely on.

Junior has been beating the odds since the day he was born.

He wasn't expected to live past a procedure to remove cerebral spinal fluid from his brain as an infant. Instead, we find he's made it to his teen years in pretty good shape, if you can overlook the crippling poverty, rampant alcoholism and general malaise that afflicts the Spokane Indian Reservation.

It sucks to be poor, and its sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you're poor because you're stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you're stupid and ugly because you're Indian. And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it.

Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.

Junior, as you can see, is not afraid to tell it like it is.

His parents are drunks. His best friend has an abusive father. His school is so underfunded that it hasn’t updated its textbooks in least 30 years. Junior himself is a skinny, spectacle-wearing, book-kissing nerd, which doesn’t exactly earn him a lot of fans around the rez.

Then one day, prodded into action by his teacher, Junior decides to take his fate into his own hands. He decides to transfer to the all-white school in the neighboring town of Reardan, 22 miles away. His parents support the move, recognizing that it will allow Junior to get a better education and access to more opportunities. But they’re pretty much the exception. Junior's community proceeds to treat him like he's betrayed them. The Reardan High School kids ignore him.

Junior's beauty is how he weathers his hardships with such aplomb and good humor. Though lonely and confused, he hangs in there, funneling his energy into positive outlets, from doodling comics to joining the basketball team. And slowly but surely, things begin to change.

I recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a pick-me-up. Diary is a daring book, too, pushing the boundaries of young adult lit with its dark humor, language and examination of race, all of which has frequently landed it on Top 10 lists for most frequently challenged titles. We have it in book form (YP FIC ALEXIE; you'll get to see Junior's awesome doodles, drawn by Ellen Forney), audiobook (AD YP FIC ALEXIE), and downloadable audio. I listened to the audio version, which is narrated by the author. I'm sometimes leery of authors reading their own stuff but Sherman really knocks it out of the ballpark and brings 14-year-old Junior to life.

Junior may endure, at times, the unimaginable, but it's a statement to Sherman's talent how we still feel optimistic and hopeful for Junior’s future.

Have you read a banned book lately? Most likely yes.

You may have already seen our Banned Books Week display in the library. It's hard to miss, what with the crime scene tape and the (book) body outlines on the floor. The display was put together by a couple intrepid teen patrons of ours along with Young Adult Librarian Luke. The week, which from runs this year Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, challenges censorship by celebrating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

If your memory's hazy about what the First Amendment says, exactly, here's a reminder:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment also speaks to intellectual freedom: "the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular." Banned Books Week is devoted to precisely that idea of freedom of choice. The annual event started in 1982 in reaction to a deluge of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) explains that a challenge is when a person or group tries to restrict or remove access to materials. A ban is when a challenge is successful, and the material is actually removed from the shelves.

There were at least 348 books challenged in schools and libraries in 2010, but the ALA thinks that figure's low, and that an estimated 70 to 80 percent of book challenges are most likely never reported. For the record, the library association has logged more than 11,000 book challenges since 1982.

Geographically, here's a look at where book challenges happened between 2007 and 2011:

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2011 in a larger map

That's right, book challenges happen everywhere. In fact, odds are, you've probably already read a challenged book. They're often popular titles or classics you have to read for school. Here's a list of the most frequently challenged books in 2010 along with their call numbers here at Moore Memorial Public Library:

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
E RICHARDS

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC ALEXIE and the bookbook YP AD FIC ALEXIE

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
FIC HUXLEY

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
YP FIC HOPKINS and the audiobook YP AD FIC HOPKINS

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC COLLINS

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
YP FIC FRIEND

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
YP FIC SONES

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint
305.569 EHRENREI and the audiobook AD 305.569 EHRENREI

Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit
(The library doesn't have this one.)

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC MEYER, the audiobook YP AD FIC MEYER and the movie DVD T

Source: BannedBooksWeek.org

So what are you waiting for? Go out and exercise your First Amendment rights — check out these books today!

Banned Books week 2010

Banned Books Week is the last week in September and is set aside to remind people of the importance of the freedom to choose books. It highlights books that have been removed from schools, libraries, or attempted to be removed.

Most books are challenged because they are seen as offensive or inappropriate for a specific age group. It is always appropriate for a parent or guardian to decide what is best for their family, but Banned Book Week is a chance for librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to celebrate their conviction that a diversity of views and ideas is necessary for a vital, functioning democracy.

The freedom to seek and read materials in a vital and necessary part of ensuring our first amendment rights. As long as there are people and groups that try to dictate what everyone else will read there will be people that work to ensure that everyone gets to choose what’s best for themselves.

So if you think you should be able to choose your own books, check out one of the ten most commonly challenged books of the year.

1. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle YP FIC MYRACLE
2. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson E RICHARDS
3. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky YP FIC CHBOSKY
4. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee FIC LEE
5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer YP FIC MEYER
6. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger FIC SALINGER
7. My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult FIC PICOULT
8. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler YP FIC MACKLER
9. The Color Purple, Alice Walker FIC WALKER
10. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier YP FIC CORMIER