Required reading

That's what I think about Sherman Alexie's new book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. When I finished it, I went right back to the beginning and started reading it over again. Alexie tells the semi-autobiographical story of Junior (aka Arnold) Spirit, a budding cartoonist who leaves the Spokane Indian reservation to attend an all-white high school 20 miles away. Junior has a variety of medical problems, the least of which are zits and the usual excess allotment of hormones. Alexie makes you laugh and cry at the same time. Powerful stuff, but told simply, one zinger after another. The text is accompanied by Ellen Forney's perfect illustrations, like this one of Mr. P, the geometry teacher at Junior's old school on the rez:



I'm off for a few days to the American Library Association Midwinter meeting in Philadelphia. This is the one when all the book awards are announced. Wonder if Absolutely True Diary will make a showing?