"Alexie Response"

I have always heard great things about Sherman Alexie, but The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is actually the first book that I have read of his.  I loved the book, just like almost everyone said that I would. Once I found out that the background of the book actually comes from Spokane, I loved it even more.  I think by just telling students that this book take places in Spokane they will be really intrigued by it. I know I was.

In the classroom, I think it is extremely important to teach students about current events and situations that are going on in their life.  Sadly, racism and stereotyping is still a huge problem that takes place and this book is a great way to introduce this situation to the students.  This book could bring about so many awesome discussions and teach kids about different races and culture. Alexie exemplified real life situations throughout his book that, but he used just enough humor to keep it from becoming too emotional of a story. I think students would love it.

As I have heard, this book is actually very hard to get approved to be part of the curriculum.  This is disappointing to me because it really can bring out such a great message and it is different from the books that most students will be used to reading. I understand that some of the content in the book may be offensive, but I think there is ways of teaching this book without allowing it to come off offensive to any student. Teaching student about real life situations is important and that is exactly what this book could provide. If I was not able to get this book approved, I would definitely want it to at least be in my classroom library and available for students to choose to read on their own.  This book is a must have and actually turned out to be one of my favorite reads of this year.