The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

This book was published in American last year to rave reviews, and it went on to win the prestigious National Book Award for Young People's Literature. It featured on the New York Times bestsellers list for 19 weeks and sold 150,000 copies in hardback over there in its first three months.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a semi-autobiographical teen novel that tells the story of Junior, a teenage boy living on an Indian reservation. He's ambitious and bright, and he sees how his family and community have been devastated by the treatment they receive from the US government and the world outside the reservation. Junior decides that the only way out of a dead-end future is to go to an all-white school in a nearby town.

What follows is a tragicomic portrayal of Junior's struggle to overcome his outsider status, facing down racial prejudice at his new school and the heartbreak of being branded a traitor by his own people. The story is punctuated by funny comic-style drawings, which reflect his desire to become a cartoonist and express the emotions he is unable to put into words.

This is a book about the pain of growing up which never ceases to amaze with its ability to move and amuse. Already huge in the US, Sherman Alexie is an author who deserves to be read by everyone, everywhere, and this fantastic novel is sure to win many fans here. To read this book is to do that incredible thing of discovering a fantastic new voice and new favourite author.

Sherman Alexie is an award winning author, poet and filmmaker, who was named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists. One of the best-known and beloved literary writers of his generation in America, his works of adult fiction include Reservation Blues and short story collections Ten Little Indians and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. This is his first book for teenagers. Sherman lives in Seattle.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Random House Australia
Author: Sherman Alexie
ISBN: 9781842708446
Price: $19.95