The Absolutley True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I am reading a really funny book called *The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian* by Sherman Alexie. I just read the part when the main character, Junior, starts school at a white high school out of his reservation. Everyone is acting like Junior is a threat to their 'coolness' and no one wants to be his friend.

I don't think it's very nice of the other teenagers to do that to Junior because, I mean, he's a person too. Who cares what color his skin is and what his background is like? I feel really bad for Junior because he is being bullied by the other kids and has been taken advantage of.

On one of the pages that there's a sketch, it's a picture of a person split in half, one side's Indian and the other is white. Since people on the reservation are poor, Junior's shirt is from K-Mart, his backpack is a garbage liner, his shoes are made of clay, and his pants are from the Sale isle in the Safeway Supermarket. Meanwhile, the white half is wearing a Polo Ralph Lauren collared shirt, khakis from Tommy Hilfiger, a Timex watch, the latest Air Jordans, and is holding an ergonomic bag (with fancy cell phone). I feel bad for Junior because everyone is judging him by skin and clothing.

On example is when Junior was just minding his own buisness, the cooler group boys came up to him and yelled. The teased, "Chief, Red-Skin, Tonto, Sitting Bull, Squaw Leader!" and started to laugh. Poor, helpless Junior could do nothing but sit there and try to ignore them. He knew he couldn't fight back or they'd beat him up, but... it wasn't very nice of his classmates.

*The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian* is a great book, but some of the word choice is really inappropriate, so I'd only recommend it for older kids. Many of the parts are funny, but deep inside, this book is meaningful and sad.