4/22/10
Dear Students,
I just read the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I thought this book was a very good book. I would rate this book a 9 out of 10. I thought this book had it all. It had humor, drama and action. I would recommend that you read this book.
The genre of this book is a mix it has many different genres. I would say it mostly had comedy to it. I thought this book had comedy in it because every few pages you would get a page that had a little cartoon on it that was supposed to be humorous. This book would also have some drama to it. A lot of people who were close to the main character named Junior would die throughout the story. It would have little action and that was when he was playing basketball for the school and when he would fight with other kids. This book does not really have only one genre.
The main character’s name is Junior. Junior lives on an Indian reservation in Spokane, Washington that has very little money. Everything on the reservation is rundown because of the money problem on their reservation. Most of the adults on the reservation are alcoholics because they don’t have much money and are depressed at how their lives turned out. One day Junior decides that he decides that he deserves better so he transfers to the school that is down the road from their town so that he will get a better education. So when Junior left the reservation everyone started to disrespect him because they felt betrayed. When Junior starts going to the new school he finds out they have a better sports program so he decides to join the basketball team and later becomes a basketball star. If you want to learn more about Junior go read the book.
I can’t understand why Junior would rather be dishonored by his people than just go to the reservation school. To me this doesn’t make sense, everyone would hate you. You wouldn’t have any of your old friends and you would get beaten up. To me I would just go to the rundown reservation school. I wouldn’t care about which school is better I would just care about being with my friends.
The resolution to Junior’s problem was that he and his best friend Rowdy became friends again. Rowdy and Junior stopped being friends after Junior thought it would be best if he transferred schools. Rowdy felt betrayed when he left, he felt betrayed because Junior was the only person Rowdy cared about and defended. Anyone other than Junior, Rowdy would have beaten up. During the time they weren’t friends, Junior would try to communicate with Rowdy so he could apologize for what he had done. Finally at the end of the story Rowdy felt lonely being without Junior so then they became friends again. That was the resolution to Junior’s problem during the book.
The quote I chose was, “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats. I liked this quote because it shows that his cartoons have meaning to him they are not just supposed to be funny. I liked this quote because it tells how his cartoons help him through life. I like this quote because it shows that drawing is another way of communicating with other people for him. He draws because he wants people to see his talent and he wants to have a job where he draws. He hopes that his drawings will help him get away from the reservation. That was my favorite quote during the book.
I thought that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian was a great book. I would recommend that teenagers should read this book. I hope you all enjoyed my letter essay on my book and I hope most of you will read this book.
You’re Friend,
Jack Krech
