From the Bookshelf of Pop Sugar's Annual Ultimate Reading Challenge…
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What Members Thought
I have wanted to read this book since before I became a teacher...and it has popped up just about everywhere in my life. Now that I am finally standing still in one spot for a bit...and have access to track it down, I checked it out. My first complaint was....I expected it to being a lot more insight into life as a Native American....and life living on a reservation. I guess I just expected it to be awesome....and it was great, but I think I built it up in my head.....and I am not sure I would t
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Junior's life could use a little improvement. He's got a huge head, super-big feet, oh, and brain damage. Not only that, he's a poor Indian living on the rez where he gets beat up almost daily. After a talk with the teacher he threw a book at (and hit straight on), Junior makes the big decision to leave the reservation--at least temporarily. Junior makes the unheard of decision to go to the neighboring all-white school to get a decent education and assist in giving him an actual future. Junior t
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A quick read about a young Native American boy who decides to "escape" the Rez he's from by switching to a more affluent school 20 miles away. I found a lot of the humor (while crude and aimed towards a younger demographic) really resonated with me (KFC seems to be a delicacy on all Rezs). I think I would like to read Alexies adult works.
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I really enjoyed this one. It was sweet, funny, sad, thought provoking, and entertaining. It was a quick, easy read, but it was smart and moving as well. Although its a YA novel, I think most adults can still relate to the painful awkwardness of being a teenager and the loneliness of being the fish out of water.
Very rough language; very beautiful message
This was an accidental find and it was amazing. For those of you who know me-this is where I come from. The Indians, the reservation, the schools, the pickups and the washing machines on the front porch. The characters were my neighbors as I grew up. I'm not quite sure how he looked into my childhood, but Sherman Alexie must have been sitting across the aisle in grade school.
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I never knew a book could be so heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. And I do mean "at the same time"--even when Arnold Spirit is at his lowest he still finds a way to see beauty and meaning in life. I can't give it five stars because I can't totally handle the dark parts anymore, but I did really like this book and I would definitely recommend it.
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Re-read for teaching- Still love this book! Lots of ways to think about teaching it, and wondering how some of the more controversial parts will go over.
Sep 11, 2010
Lisa
marked it as to-read
Jan 20, 2014
Kendra
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2014
Madicken
marked it as to-read
Jun 17, 2014
Amy
marked it as to-read
Oct 11, 2017
Ariel
marked it as to-read
