The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a book about a first-person account of young 14-year-old Native American boy nicknamed “Junior” who writes about his hard life. Junior is a character that represents the author himself as he grows up so many of the things in the book are actually based on his real life experiences.

Junior, the main character,  lives with an alcoholic and abusive father and a kind mother in a poor reservation (Spokane Indian Reservation). Because of this, his character gets him in trouble at school. He eventually gets suspended for  misdemeanor and later transfers to a nicer, all-white High School in Reardan Washington, partially because his old school was less fortunate. From there, he narrates about how he’s bullied and the hardships he goes through.

I personally enjoyed the book because it was a young-adult fiction book that was very interesting. Plus, the book has many cartoon drawings that go with the story that makes it funny and entertaining. The author  lives in Seattle, Washington and I also lived there when I read the book in the eighth grade. More importantly, the book touches on important issues such as bullying, racism and change that occur in the region and the nation.

The reason why this book is banned in 3 states (Richland, Washington, Stockton, Missouri and Newcastle, Wyoming) because if its repeated accounts of  profanity, sexual content, violence, bullying, alcohol, deaths and poverty.

However, this is a book that I would recommend to any high school student because it’s funny but it also gives the reader a  perspective of the life of a Native-American in the Pacific North West.