Sherman Alexie: The Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I had never read any writing of Sherman Alexie’s writing before, after reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I want to read more of his books. This book is accessible to high school students. It isn’t a very hard book to read, especially because of the comics that Arnold draws to break up the text.

This book is especially inspirational to use in a high school classroom, because of the theme of the book. Throughout the book, Arnold is striving to work past the stereotypes that have been set by his relatives and by the expectations that have been set by the tribe that he is a part of. This is a good theme for the students to read. Especially if students don’t have family members that have gone to college, this book might help the students decide to take the steps to go to college and get a higher education. Arnold decides he doesn’t want to be exactly like most of the other Indians on the reservation, as a result of this he ends up going to Rearden High School. This could motivate students to really take the steps to achieve what they want in life.

Another reason why I would use The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is to teach the students about diaries. This could be a good opportunity for the students to write their own diary or journal. The students could add pictures or magazine clippings to personalize their writing within their journals to themselves.

As I was reading this I really liked the theme within it, which made me think that this would be a good book to teach theme with. Teaching theme with a complex book won’t really grab the student’s attention. Using The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, would engage the students, because the theme is something most of them can probably relate to.