The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian    by Sherman Alexie Order:  USA  Can Little, Brown & Co., 2007 (2007) Hardcover Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Lyn Seippel Arnold 'Junior' Spirit is poor and expects to stay poor all his life, just like the rest of the reservation Indians. When he is fourteen, a disillusioned reservation teacher tells him that his only hope for a better life is to leave the reservation. The sooner, the better. Hope is something Junior thinks is only for the white man. With the consent of his parents Junior leaves the reservation school and goes to a rich white school in the nearby, all-white town of Reardon. Junior, a funny looking, wimpy kid, is the underdog on the reservation. His one friend is Rowdy. Rowdy is so mean and out of control that he got into his first fist fight in kindergarten. Whenever Rowdy is around, he protects Junior from bullying. At Reardon Junior remains an outcast who is looked down on and laughed at. He is friendless at this new school and Rowdy (his only friend on the reservation) now shuns him. The other rez Indians consider him a traitor and he is called an apple - red on the outside, but white on the inside. Things begin to turn around at Reardon when Junior becomes a basketball star, but tension mounts on the reservation. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is written in diary form. Junior fills his journal with cartoon art (drawn by Ellen Forney) which is as descriptive as his words. Sherman puts a comic spin on Junior's attempt to find happiness off the reservation, but never makes light of the seriousness of his life on and off the reservation. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Teens books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews