I was so impressed by hearing Sherman Alexie's keynote address at the Association of College and Research Libraries conference in Seattle this March, that I determined to actually read some of his books. What better way to start than with his new YA (young adult) book! As with so many high quality YA books, this one deserves to be read by adults as well, although the abundance of gross boy humor will certainly make it appealing to male teens. Arnold aka "Junior" Spirit lives on the Spokane Indian reservation with his parents and older sister Mary. The rez is a close knit community but Arnold has been singled out for abuse by peers and even adults because he was born with hydrocephalus (water on the brain). He is both verbally and physically abused by all and sundry except for his best friend Rowdy who defends Arnold against all comers--usually pretty successfully since Rowdy is strong and mean. A fit of anger precipitates a conversation with one of his teachers, and Arnold decides to attend school off the rez, and thereby earns the enmity of an even larger proportion of the tribe, including his former best friend Rowdy. Like Alexie's speech at ACRL, this book is painful and funny and eye-opening. Hear Alexie read a portion of the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment