The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

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This was my first time reading anything of Sherman Alexie’s, and I have to say that I really enjoyed reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I found the book to be an engaging, humorous, incredibly well written coming of age story that could really work in a secondary classroom. The stream of consciousness style of writing that Alexie takes on is really intriguing and makes the read fun and easy, which I think can be a big advantage for teaching the book in a secondary classroom because it could potentially be a new and engaging style of writing for students. I also found the cartoons and comics to be great tools to help draw readers in and engage them with the text, as well as great tools to add to the story. Overall, I think that Alexie has created and incredible novel that covers issues that our secondary students will be dealing with all of the time, as well as a novel that gives perspective into the lives of young Native American students and their culture.

I think that you could make the case for teaching this book in any secondary classroom, but I think the best grades to teach it would likely be 8th-10th. One great teaching idea for this novel would be to have students keep their own “diary” or journal as they are reading the book to create their own kind of “Absolutely True Diary of insert-whatever-you-like-here.” I think this book would also be a great source for looking at character analysis and character development throughout a story.


I think that I would teach this book in my classroom; it’s funny and engaging, and I think students can get something out of it. I don’t know if I would teach it to the whole class or not though. I definitely see merit in teaching it to the whole class, as well as in reading groups/book clubs. And even if I don’t end up teaching it in my classroom, I would have it in my classroom library or would recommend it to students.

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