The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a young adult novel by Sherman Alexie, illustrated with cartoons by Ellen Forney. Junior is a fourteen-year-old budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State, where poverty and loss shape daily life. Determined to have a better future, he makes the bold decision to leave the reservation school and enroll at an all-white high school in a nearby farm town, where the only other Indian is the team mascot. At his new school he is an outsider, and back home many people, including his best friend, see his choice as a betrayal. Told in Junior's funny, frank voice and filled with his drawings, the novel explores identity, belonging, friendship and hope. It won the 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.