I’m back from Vegas! I will not discuss my losses :(, only the books I’ve read!
I finished Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman on the ride to Vegas. It tells the story of Alice Ann Moxley’s troubles in her new Mississippi town and school during 1964. Her father works for the FBI and is reassigned from Chicago to Mississippi to protect black people registering to vote. Alice’s school is one of the first to integrate when Valerie Taylor joins Alice’s sixth grade class. The students torment and try to drive Valerie out of the school. Alice is faced with doing what is right and fitting in.
Here is a review of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian from Amazon.com
Exploring Indian identity, both self and tribal, Alexie’s first young adult novel is a semiautobiographical chronicle of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian from Wellpinit, WA. The bright 14-year-old was born with water on the brain, is regularly the target of bullies, and loves to draw. He says, “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.” He expects disaster when he transfers from the reservation school to the rich, white school in Reardan, but soon finds himself making friends with both geeky and popular students and starting on the basketball team. Meeting his old classmates on the court, Junior grapples with questions about what constitutes one’s community, identity, and tribe. The daily struggles of reservation life and the tragic deaths of the protagonist’s grandmother, dog, and older sister would be all but unbearable without the humor and resilience of spirit with which Junior faces the world. The many characters, on and off the rez, with whom he has dealings are portrayed with compassion and verve, particularly the adults in his extended family. Forney’s simple pencil cartoons fit perfectly within the story and reflect the burgeoning artist within Junior. Reluctant readers can even skim the pictures and construct their own story based exclusively on Forney’s illustrations. The teen’s determination to both improve himself and overcome poverty, despite the handicaps of birth, circumstances, and race, delivers a positive message in a low-key manner. Alexie’s tale of self-discovery is a first purchase for all libraries.
I kept reminding myself that this book is not for elementary school, but an upper middle school and high school audience.
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