Drama Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Telgemeier, Raina. Drama. New York: Scholastic, 2012. ISBN: 9780545326995.

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Seventh-grader Callie is enthusiastic about being in charge of set design for her school play, but the relationships among her theater friends are complicated and confusing. Can the cast and crew pull it together before the curtain falls?

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS 
Raina Telgemeier's easily readable, highly dramatic, graphic novel Drama introduces tween and teen readers to a creative seventh grader who is trying to work her way up the ladder of her middle school theater program. Not an actress, Callie thrives on creating and managing set designs for the school play (52). She also appears to be at a critical juncture in her adolescence and is often looking for romance with boys in her class. As she floats from crush to crush, she experiences plenty of heartbreak and disappointment. 

Although Telgemeier does not dive into defining the children's cultural and racial diversity in the text, she does illustrate a multicultural middle school experience for Callie. All of Telgemeier's drawings are vivid in color, and not just in the background. She spends a lot of time focusing on creating artistic identities for each character, who represent children from several different cultural backgrounds. 

Lively and vivacious, Callie's new friend Justin lands a role in the play. Justin is gay and has come out to his brother and his friends, but not at home. He also tells Callie that his twin brother, Jesse, is not gay, but thrives in a quieter academic environment because he is more of an introvert. Callie, who is a strong, independent girl, becomes fast friends with both boys because of their common interest in musicals. 

One area of concern for me related to stereotyping, particularly surrounding Jesse and Justin, was that even know Telgemeier does not identify cultures to the reader, Jesse communicates a pressure to get outstanding grades: "He still wants me to be the obedient son, and next year, when we're in high school, I'm sure I'll have to disappear into the books again, forever" (32). This kind of academic pressure made me wonder if in her mind Telgemeier was assigning stereotypes of an Asian American overachiever to Jesse. Putting the book's primary setting in a school theater atmosphere also made me worry that the book might be helping to assign a label of stereotypical school activities for gay students. 

As with any junior high, there are emotional ups and downs at Eucalyptus Middle School. Hormones seems to be raging as one of the girls, Bonnie, changes boyfriends frequently. Others engage each other on a friend level, but wonder about romantic relationships with those that they are closest to. 

Telgemeier offers a very positive, friendly introduction to several teenagers coming of age and represents personal sexual discovery as something that doesn't have to be terrifying. 

To children who don't engage with homosexual people, some families might find this topic uncomfortable, but for children who are aware that gay people do exist in the world (who may be their cousin, best friend, or parents) it's nice to see the diversity represented.  

Throughout the book, what is clear, are the hundreds of feelings the students have not only about putting together their play but also learning about how they individually relate to each other and to the larger world. 

4.  AWARDS and REVIEW EXCERPTS
Stonewall Honor Book

From Kirkus Review
"With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer." 

From Booklist
"In this realistic and sympathetic story, feelings and thoughts leap off the page, revealing Telgemeier's keen eye for young teen life." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Because Drama's storyline includes conversations and discoveries about teens and sexuality, it has been challenged in schools and public libraries. In fact, in 2016, it and four other books with LGBTQ storylines made up five of the ten most frequently challenged books in libraries according to the ALA. In public and school libraries talking about or introducing children and teens to sexuality is considered taboo. I'm not sure if it's conversing about people who are LGBTQ that is more difficult for adults or the fact that adult librarians may talk about sexuality with children. 

Regardless, having quality materials that reflect the human experience is expected from libraries. And addressing the elephant in the room that gay people exist is a critical part of opening a window to allow people who are not used to interacting with LGBTQ people to see them as human (i.e. someone's Mom or Dad or grandmother or best friend). 

In this connection, reading banned materials that center on LGBTQ storylines is a great introductory lesson to opening this window or door for students in the classroom or those that visit the library.

The second step is for children to determine and discuss why these books might be banned. What are people afraid of? What are they offended by? How does meeting the complaints of one specialized group negate the needs of another? How does literature push those comfort boundaries for adults where they lobby for books to be censored from children? 

The third step in this connection would be to study the history of LGBTQ rights as well as the current issues of this cultural group. Is it possible, even for children with no experience with this kind of diversity to talk openly and accept one another for who they are?

The Shadow Hero Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yang, Gene Luen. The Shadow Hero. New York: First Second, 2014. ISBN 978-1-59643-697-8. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Author Gene Luen Yang and illustrator Sonny Liew recreate the first Asian American comic book hero Green Turtle who takes to the streets to bring down Ten Grand, the local gangster who had Green Turtle's father killed and extorts money from local Chinese business owners.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In this graphic novel for teens author Gene Luen Yang creates his own origin story for Green Turtle, the first Asian American comic book hero in America from the 1940s, and unlike the original, which publishers would not allow the author to visually depict the hero's facial features as Asian American, illustrator Sonny Liew lets his visual representations of many different kinds of Chinese faces fill the book. Thus, defying the old racist portrayals as Asians as slant-eyed, buck-toothed people who all look the same.

This origin story shares some commonality with other superheroes. It focuses on the protagonist Hank, who has wanted to grow up to be a grocer in the city just like his father. Hank enjoys spending long hours working side-by-side with his father and the two are very close. But Hank's mother has other ideas for him. Super ideas. Hank is motivated by his mother's desperation to have something adventurous and amazing in her life to don a green super suit and rid their neighborhood of crime. However, later when a local gangster has his father killed in their store, Hank's heroism is motivated by his need to seek justice on behalf of his father and his community, similar to Batman.

Interlaced through Hank's story, which takes place a half generation or so after the end of the Ch'ing Dynasty in 1911 and after his father and mother immigrated (separately) to America, is the underlying influence of four shadow spirits: Dragon, Phoenix, Tiger and Tortoise (1). The myth says that these spirits were born with the birth of China and live in a place between "our world and the next" (1). Their existence is linked to the livelihood of the country and their disagreement on how to help the country thrive after the fall of the dynasty leads to Tortoise hitching a ride to America and his brother Dragon coming after him.

Yang's attention on Hank's mother is a driving force in the book, not just because she encourages Hank to become something more, but because Yang is very forward about the disappointment the mother felt when arriving in America as an immigrant and in fulfilling her duty in honoring her parents' wishes, even though she desired to put space between herself and Chinatown. So often immigration stories are about how moving to America improved lives for immigrants, but for Hank's mother, she felt let down because instead of "color and astonishment" she found a world that was "gray, noisy and rude" (5).

Yang and Liew develop a hero who is very brave and quick thinking -- and still poor enough that he has to get everywhere by borrowed car, bus, and on foot. Even his costume, as the story progresses, becomes less and less, until toward the end of the adventure when he's barely in underwear and a cape, showing that his heroism is more human than super, which is an odd situation, given that superheroes really do exist in Hank's time.

Instead, Hank is a hero for regular people wanting to make a difference in their community. His detective work leads him to find that the evil in his neighborhood is highly connected to the leaders of his city, like the mayor and the chief of police. It's hard to have justice in Chinatown, when those in power have turned a blind eye to people in need.

But the bond Hank feels for his father is strong, and when he stumbles upon the Tortoise Shadow, he is promised one wish. Hank realizes that he could benefit by a superpower and asks to never be shot like his father. Tortoise grants him his wish and shares with him more about his father's life than Hank ever knew.

Throughout the story, it feels like Hank's ability to be accepted as a hero, when he isn't super, is equivalent to being able to be accepted in America, even though he isn't white. Toward the end of the book, his friend Red asks him: "Hank, be honest. Do you really think dressing up in that silly costume will make them accept you? Do you really think it will make you a part of them?" (150). Hank is unsure how to answer. In his heart he doesn't feel accepted into typical American culture, but as he learns on his adventures what makes the other super heroes super isn't really cultural assimilation, he realizes his cultural story doesn't have to be rooted in it either.

At the end of the book Yang gives the history of the original comic book hero and provides pages from one of the original comics. Both elements are great for readers who are interested in the history of comics and literary analysis.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
NPR Best Book of the Year
YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens
CCBC Choice
Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award
ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adults
YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
Booklist Editor's Choice

From The New York Times Book Review
"What America needs is for people to shed the expectations of translation and immerse themselves in other worlds. It's O.K. if you can't pronounce ma po tofu, it's O.K. if you can't pronounce my last name and it's O.K. if you learn about our ways through graphic novels. America has to start somewhere and I'd recommend The Shadow Hero. Soon enough, it'll all be familiar." 

From Kirkus Reviews
"Yang's funny and perceptive script offers clever riffs on familiar tropes and explores themes of identity, heroism and belonging." 

5. CONNECTIONS
The Green Turtle chooses his own costume and name, even after his Mom tries to push an identity on him. Parents can do that some times. They only want the best, but sometimes they miss who their child is telling them who they are. 

Think about your strengths, what would your special powers be? Would you have a shadow like GreenTurtle that was based on a connection to the past of your people? Or is there some aspect of your character that is more likely to suit you? Perhaps, if you're shy, you'd become invisible, or if you like to run you'd be super fast. Or if you have a lot of empathy, you could read others' thoughts!

Take time to think about who you are and then draw a self-portrait of what your superhero outfit would look like. Once you have your look and power identified, think of a challenge in your neighborhood that your superhero could resolve, and then create your own comic book about it. Teachers should have pre-printed empty comic panel papers for students to choose from as well as pencils, colored pencils, or fine markers for them to draw and color. 

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. ISBN 978-0-316-03863-8. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Grace Lin retells classic Chinese folktales and myths with her own delightful spin about a girl named Minli and her new friend Dragon as they set off on a mission to find the Old Man of the Moon so Minli can figure out how to bring good fortune to her poor family and Dragon can ask why he cannot fly. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is an exquisite Chinese folktale that leads readers on a wondrous quest with a young girl named Minli who wants to make her mother happy by finding the secret to good fortune.

Living in what Minli feels is poverty as the daughter of two rice farmers, Minli recognizes that her mother is constantly focused on what the family doesn't have. "Ma is right, Minli thought. What a poor fortune we have. Every day, Ba and Ma work and work and we still have nothing. I wish I could change our fortune" (12).

Inspired by her father's oral storytelling, Minli decides that the characters he describes in his stories are real and takes off with her talking goldfish in search of the Old Man of the Moon to answer her question about the secret to good fortune. On her adventure, she meets many other mythical characters including a Dragon, a poor boy with a water buffalo, a king, a poisonous tiger, a brave set of twins, and more. At each turn, Minli hears or remembers stories about the past of the Chinese people. And almost on cue, Lin sets up the current storyline to link the past to the present, usually relating them to a current state of conflict or a suddenly introduced mystery that needs to be resolved by the main characters.

Lin's storytelling is inventive, magical and complemented by her vivid illustrations. Coloring the titles of the ancient myths being told within Minli's folktale and setting them off with a different font are great visual cues for children and help them understand that there is a strong likelihood the story may jump off of the typical timeline, which can be a common storytelling method in some Asian cultures' folktales. Although Minli's story, as the protagonist, is very linear with a clear beginning of her journey, middle, climax, and end, the flashbacks of the myths and how they have influenced the different characters she meets are not.

The power of the story comes not only from Lin's portrayal of Minli as a resolute little girl who loves her family but Lin's own attachment to the characters she creates and the ancient stories they are retelling -- with Lin's own modern twist. "It is a fantasy inspired by the Chinese folktales that enchanted me in my youth and the land and culture that fascinates me in my adulthood," Lin says in her notes at the end of the novel" (298). Lin takes great care in portraying all of the characters in her book as having strengths and flaws, particularly Magistrate Tiger, who may easily be seen by children as the villain in the book for his bossy and greedy ways, but he is not entirely unrelatable to children's real-life experiences with bullies or cranky adults.

Although not focused on modern-day Chinese people, and representing one of the more often published about Asian cultures, Lin's novel on Chinese culture allows middle-grade readers to be captivated by an adventurous and loving storyline that is easy to read and get lost in.

My 11-year-old son read it in four sittings, each time remarking that the chapters were short, even though there were a lot of them, which helped him feel like he was flying through the book. He also enjoyed how the characters he thought were minor in the beginning, came back around and were connected by the end of the story. In many ways, we wondered if Lin was influenced by the Wizard of Oz, or if Frank Baum might have been influenced by Chinese cultural folktales.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon opened a window for my son to peek into ancient Chinese culture through commonly shared stories that were foreign to him. He enjoyed the experience and said that Dragon was his favorite character, because he was loyal and protective of Minli, no matter what magical beast they ran into. He also liked that although the myths within the folktale were telling morals, they were not lecturing children about being thankful for what they have. In essence, they were asking children to recognize they have power and can make positive changes not only in their lives but in the lives of the people they love, even though they are young and/or poor.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
Newbery Honor Book
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature


From School Library Journal
"The author's writing is elegant, and her full-color illustrations are stunning. Minli's determination to help her family, as well as the grief her parents feel at her absence, is compelling and thoroughly human." 

From Booklist
"With beautiful language, Lin creates a strong, memorable heroine and a mystical land. Stories, drawn from a rich history of Chinese folktales, weave throughout her narrative, deepening the sense of both the characters and the setting and smoothly furthering the plot." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Each character in Lin's book, past and present, is connected in some way. In fact, the Old Man of the Moon and his red string connects generations of people in China.

How are the students in your classroom connected? If you start with a large roll of yarn, can you go around the room finding ways that each person is connected in life by their similarities outside of school? 

Have the first child hold the end of the yarn and announce something about themselves. If it is similar to someone else in the room, students should raise their hands, and allow the first student to call on someone, pass the yarn, and allow that student to announce something different about their lives. Play can continue around the room and include the teacher to show how we have more in common than we might think. 

Grandfather's Journey Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Say, Allen. Grandfather's Journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993. ISBN 0-395-57035-2. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Author Allen Say depicts how his grandfather's identity was split between his love for his homeland in Japan and his adoration for America, particularly California, in this touching autobiographical picture book. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
An older picture book from the early 1990s, Allen Say's work is timeless as an extraordinary visual representation of his grandfather's journey to and travels around the United States. The story and images show the emotions he felt during his decision to immigrate to California. "The more he traveled, the more he longed to see new places, and never thought of returning home" (13).

Say's watercolor images feel as if he based them from pictures from his grandfather's photo albums. He captures real light and color in American sunsets, fields of wheat, and desert rocks. On his trip, as a young man, his grandfather dressed in American clothing, which expresses how important it was to him to fit in culturally. What is cultural assimilation and what are the challenges balancing two cultures for immigrants? This is a narrative that immigrant children in the classroom may understand and identify with in ways that typical American children may not immediately understand. How many children would try to wear the clothing of other cultures when they traveled abroad? Where would such fashion even be available to purchase in their area? Why, in the illustrations, do none of the people smile -- Japanese or American? Is this a shift between days past and the modern era that is plagued with selfies? Did any of the students notice how dressed up Say's family is at all times? Are these photos of special times that warrant dressing up, or does his family dress nicely every day? These are questions that might give children a moment or two to think about more than just how immigrants are people who travel to live in new lands.

The act of discovering another country and falling in love with it while remaining faithful to one's birthplace is a noble theme and shows an influence from grandfather to grandson and the importance of family connection throughout generations. The portrait of Say, as a child, with his grandfather standing on walking stones in a Japanese garden, is touching. Say focuses his text on how his grandfather's oral stories about America inspired him to also make the journey across the Pacific. "When I was a small boy, my favorite weekend was a visit to my grandfather's house. He told me many stories about California" (24). But before Say was able to make his journey he had to experience some major emotional losses. One assumes from the illustration that World War II was a large influence on his childhood. Although he does not call the war by name, he illustrates a total destruction of the city where he lived in Japan by showing children among piles of gray rubble.

At 16, Say went to California, also dressed in American clothing. Say says he feels the same division between Japan and California that his grandfather felt. "The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other" (31).

This division represents to me something that is missing in today's political understanding of the immigrant experience. To be torn between two physical places is both a positive and a negative. One's understanding of humanity in a global sense is increased through travel and experience in different cultures. But one's sense of home or presence of self might come into question based on life experiences in another place.

In a perfect world, one would not have to choose between the family of origin and the family they create. One would hope in a global world, families would be able to stay together and travel freely to see each other.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
Caldecott Medal
Bulletin Blue Ribbon
ALA Notable Book
Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
Booklist Editor's Choice
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

From School Library Journal
"A personal history of three generations of the author's family that points out the emotions that are common to the immigrant experience." 

From Kirkus Reviews
"Lovely, quiet — with a tenderness and warmth new to this fine illustrator's work." 

5. CONNECTIONS
It's too often that children are read to and see illustrations without understanding how illustrations are created. In Say's book, he uses watercolors, which are relatively easy for most schools and libraries to come by. This could make a lovely pre-grandparents', mothers' or fathers' day activity. Encourage children to bring a photo of their favorite relative to school (a print out if possible, so it doesn't accidentally get ruined). Talk about the colors in their photographs and have them draw out a replica of the photo on drawing paper and then use watercolors to fill the image. Some might choose to copy the photo completely, others might take a modern approach and use brighter, more vivid colors to express their emotions about the person in the photo. If a photo isn't available, have mirrors in the class, so children can work on self-portraits. These photos will make excellent room decorations and gifts and will allow children much needed creative time in the classroom. 

Review of The Birchbark House by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House. Ashland, Oregon: Blackstone Audio, 2004. ASIN: B0001GDQKY

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Young Omakayas lives with her family on an island in the middle of Lake Superior among the Ojibwa tribe. Her childhood is full of the joys of nature, the love of her family, and the annoyances of her little brother Pinch until the hard, long winter comes and with it an unwanted and lethal visitor. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS 
Listening to the audio version of The Birchbark House was both a joy and an indulgence. Some audiobooks can be on in the background while one goes about their lives and be absorbed just fine. But Nicolle Littrell's narration and individual character voices draw you into the story, the family's native language, and the beautiful natural descriptions that author Louise Erdrich depicts, which makes it impossible but to tune out the world and concentrate on the details of the story. 

As a listener who is not well versed in Ojibwa tribe culture and names, I researched the spellings of characters' names and the native words the author used (Eldrich is a member of the Ojibwa tribe), so I could have a better appreciation of the way she integrated native words into her writing, because the Ojibwa vocabulary was a giant focus of how the young, female protagonist and narrator, Omakayas, relates her story to the reader. The Ojibwa language also is reiterated through many oral stories that her grandmother shares about the family's history. To understand the language, is to begin to understand the efforts of authenticity that Erdich put into her novel.

In addition to the plethora of native language, Omakayas is very particular about describing the importance of food and meals in her home. The hard work that it takes everyone on the island to prepare for a long winter in the middle of Lake Superior has everyone from a very young age tanning hides, harvesting rice, fishing, hunting animals, and mashing corn. Bannock bread, a dough cooked over a fire, plays a constant role in the book, as well as maple sugar. Winter in the north lasts almost six months. Planning to store that much food for a family of seven is no small undertaking, particular when Omakayas' father travels most of the seasons outside of winter with the voyagers to bring back animal pelts to trade with the general store. 

But my favorite part of how Erdrich illustrated native traditions was in how Omakayas interacts with nature. She is a young girl in the book aging from 7 to 8 years of age, but it doesn't stop her from befriending two bear brothers, and trying to name her baby brother Neewo after birds. Nature calls out to Omakayas, similarly as it does to her grandmother Nokomis, and puts her on a path to become a healer. The use of natural life on the island isn't a stereotype that is often seen in Native American portrayals. Instead of viewing her family as environmentalists, it's very clear that the survival of the Ojibwa people depend on the plant and animal resources where they live. This isn't political, it is survival. But it does have a sense of humor. For example, Omakayas' family pet is a crow, Andeg, who picks up their language and chastises her brother, Pinch, whenever he causes trouble. Indeed the relationship between middle sister and middle brother is often strained, which many modern day children will be able to relate to, but it is not completely without hope. 

Omakayas' day-to-day life and involvement with her family and their closeness is the focus of the novel, but there are also secrets to how she herself is special. Omakayas does not realize until white men visit their island and bring yellow fever to her community that she is a very special child. Erdich allows Omakayas to handle the situation in a very adult way that honors her family, as she works hard to make decisions that will keep them all together in this world or the next. The illness and the terror it instills in the whole island also introduces hatred for white men through the real fear elders feel. Relationships with white voyagers may bring some prosperity, but it can also be deadly. 

The Birchbark House is the first book in a series, but it didn't need to be. This novel stands on its own just fine and does a beautiful job describing the work and love that went into the Ojibwa community. But I have to admit, my favorite character was Old Tallow, the old woman neighbor, who always held a special place in her heart for Omakayas, carried a gun, went through three husbands, and then surrounded herself with a pack of dogs. Old Tallow is described by Omakayas as being very tough and living outside of the normal social boundaries of women in her tribe. Yet, she was accepted either because of her grit or her talent as a hunter. 

Unlike the other books I read for this unit, The Birchbark House is more focused on Native American women and their influence on culture and home life. It is also the oldest setting of the three novels that I read. I am glad that I listened to the audiobook, as I think the various voices and tones were wonderfully acted. There were many moments of playfulness and joyfulness that really attracted me to become emotionally involved with the characters. And I have to admit when yellow fever hits the island in the dead of winter, I cried. But don't let my sentiment put you off of the audio recording. I laughed at the antics of the children far more than I felt despair. I promise! 

4.  AWARDS and REVIEW EXCERPTS
National Book Award Finalist, 1999

From School Library Journal
"Based on her own family history, Louise Erdrich has crafted a richly textured historical novel. Nicolle Littrell's slow, clear narration is rich and inviting. Ojibwa words are smoothly woven into the narration, and their meaning is clear from the context." 

From Kirkus Reviews
"With this volume, Erdrich launches her cycle of novels about a 19th-century Ojibwa family, covering in vivid detail their everyday life as they move through the seasons of one year on an island on Lake Superior." 

5. CONNECTIONS
When the story starts, Omakayas is 7 years old. She is already helping her mother by learning how to tan moose skin and watch her baby brother -- home alone! As she ages in the story, she helps the family cook meals, cares for the sick, run errands, harvests rice, etc. Have the students in your room think about the chores they do at home and the purpose of them? Do they give them a sense of pride? Are they helpful to their parents? Do they honor their home the way Omakayas does? Is this part of their modern day culture? 

Outside of the cultural similarities and differences, answer some basic questions like how hard is it to grind acorns? For younger children, this can be a great activity outside with a simple rock and acorn against blacktop, or if possible, bring in a mortar and pestle and have the children try grinding the acorns (you might need to give a helping hand to get them started). Also, as a math and science activity, how much food would their families have to collect to make it through six months of winter? How would it be preserved?

Food is a large part of Omakayas' life. Without farming, fishing, and hunting her small family would die. But she has a special food -- maple sugar. How is maple sugar turned into syrup? Is there a field trip near the school to go learn about the process? If not, is there an opportunity to make or share maple candy with your students? 

Review of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-316-01369-7. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Arnold Spirit Jr. is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He's never fit in with his own people on the Spokane Indian Reservation because of his disabilities and figures that life can't get any worse than being dirt poor, bullied, and brain damaged. When he decides to attend the mostly white, wealthier public school off the reservation at the urging of one of his teachers, Junior finds out how far away from rock bottom he actually was when the whole reservation and his best friend turn against him. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS 
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a unicorn among young adult literature. Its protagonist is a 14-year-old boy, a Spokane Indian, who lives in the modern day. Stories featuring present-day Native American characters are special and rare finds, particularly when this book wins the National Book Award. Author Sherman Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an authentic, fictionalized inner look at the struggles Native Americans face on the Spokane Reservation. 

The story is written as a diary that the protagonist, Arnold Spirit Jr., keeps. Junior is addicted to comics and loves drawings, but he also writes about his experiences. Junior's life is not easy. He was born with excess cerebral spinal fluid on his brain that required a surgery when he was an infant. He was not expected to live through the procedure, but he did. Though his physicality and neurobiology were forever affected by the brain damage, Junior survived -- to face more challenges like being beaten and bullied, mostly from peers at school, but there were other people on the reservation who were quick to anger and fight. In fact, Junior learned the rules and culture of fighting on the reservation at a young age. 

What excites Junior, besides comics, is math. And when he finds out his poor public high school, Wellpinit, on the reservation had been teaching with the same textbooks that were used when his mother attended, Junior gets angry, misbehaves to the point of hurting a teacher and gets suspended from school for violence. His teacher, recognizing Junior's frustration with the lack of challenge in his school, asks him to consider transferring to Reardon, a public school 22 miles away, that had better educational opportunities -- because mostly white children with money attended. "I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation" (7). 

Figuring he had nothing to lose, Junior asks his parents "Who has the most hope?" And instantly his parents both respond with "White people" (45). The different cultural rules at his new school surprise Junior, but the constant flow of white privilege doesn't. "Let me tell you, we Indians were the worst of times and those Reardan kids were the best of times. Those kids were magnificent. They knew everything. And they were beautiful. They were beautiful and smart. They were beautiful and smart and epic. They were filled with hope. I don't know if hope is white. But I do know that hope for me is like some mythical creature" (51). 

Alexie focuses a lot on Junior's constant inability to see himself something other than poor and useless in the world. But slowly, in his new environment, Junior forms friends, finds success in sports and gets introduced to different concepts (like donating to the homeless) and cultural ideals than those he was raised with on the Reservation. But this new knowledge comes at a great cost, when the reservation acts angry toward him, particularly his best friend since birth, Rowdy. Assimilation into the white school is seen as a betrayal. In addition, Junior changes parts of himself to fit into white culture. For example, the Reardon students call him by his first name Arnold and not Junior. 

On the reservation, Junior is very aware of the influence of alcohol on the lives of everyone he loves. His father is an alcoholic. He refers to his mother as a former alcoholic. His father's best friend has issues with alcohol and Rowdy's Dad gets so angry he abuses Rowdy. Community events and fairs often include alcohol. Alcohol can be viewed as both a contributor to the poverty that exists on the reservation as well as a coping mechanism of all the hardship the community has faced historically. Poverty seeps into a lot of decisions and choices Junior has to make. He is often walking the 22 miles to school or hitching rides to get there because it's too much gas for his parents to transport him or sometimes his dad forgets to pick him up. 

In basketball, the racial tensions between the high schools come to a head when Junior plays against his former reservation school on the varsity team. The whole crowd literally turns their back on him as he talks the to the court, and then Rowdy used the game to knock Arnold unconscious.

But the real heartbreak of the story is the tremendous loss experienced within Junior's family, especially knowing how much family means to the Spokane tribal culture and Junior's family. The tragedies just keep building, exploding, and building again, while the drama goes from bad to worse. Junior is met time and time again with loss and sadness and the ugliness of what has happened to his people at the hands of white people and the long-term effects that include depression, alcoholism, violence, etc. What frustrates Junior, even more, is how oblivious white people filled with guilt appear to be too extreme hardship his people live with. "Do you know how many white strangers show up on Indian reservations every year and start telling Indians how much they love them? Thousands. It's sickening. And boring" (163). And Alexie lets his readers in on a not so quiet secret: the white invaders are often misinformed entirely about the Native American experience in America. And the effect on Indian culture by white people has altered their acceptance of their own people on a basic level in society. For example, Junior recognizes that people with epilepsy and people who were gay were once seen by Spokane Indians as magical until white people arrived and pressed religion on them. "Ever since white people showed up and brought along their Christianity and their fears of eccentricity, Indians have gradually lost all of their tolerance" (155). 

Illustrator Ellen Forney does a tremendous job drawing the actions and feelings Junior has about his life into his diary. They are fun and compelling and sad and sobering to complement Alexie's writing. Illustrated with pen or pencil sketches and done on hand-drawn notebook paper, Forney focuses on using materials Junior is likely to have available to him.  

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is not a happy book. It is laced with reality on steroids regarding race relations, family drama, and abusive behavior within the tribal community for a fiction piece. And although, I am more of a supporter of books that have less trauma and more positivity in regards to portraying minority cultures, that is entirely a reflection of my own privilege. Teen life is hard. It's especially hard if you're poor and not part of the dominant class -- and living with a disability. In that sense, Junior's survival and determination are extraordinary. Alexie leaves no rock of hard reality unturned in this novel. Readers are forced to feel all of Junior's loss, which Alexie writes as if it is just a regular part of the teenage American Indian experience. Since he writes from viewing his own experiences on the reservation, they very well may be the reality of Spokane teens. This begs the readers to extend their empathy and consideration to all racial groups in America who are pushed into segregated spaces, provided underfunded schooling and health care, and treated as second-class citizens.  

In addition, Alexie's work does a number of noble things. First, it addresses several present-day cultural markers for the Spokane Tribe including dressing in what you have and can afford (Grandma was my favorite), festivals and powwows where native song and dance are still displayed and enjoyed by young tribal adults, and recognizing the importance of the "rez," where generations of his people lived and died. Secondly, Alexie also recognizes the struggle characters like Junior's sister, Mary, experience when leaving their people for more opportunities off the reservation and how that separation impacts their psyches. And third, Alexie doesn't allow Junior to idealize any of it. Junior tells it like it is through the whole book. Younger readers might find his struggle difficult. The fact that physical violence, disappearing alcoholic parents, bullying, ostracizing, and death are common to such a young character with disabilities made my younger middle school son put the book down -- for now. But even though my son couldn't get through the first two chapters, he understands that Junior's voice is authentic and real and age appropriate. Indeed, many other 14-year-old boys who understand the world as a harsh place will relish Alexie empowering Junior with honesty. 

4.  AWARDS and REVIEW EXCERPTS
National Book Award Winner, 2007
YALSA Best Book Award for Young Adults, 2008
American Indian Youth Literature Awards, American Indian Library Association, Best Young Adult Book
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Fiction, and Poetry, 2008. 

From Booklist 
"Alexie's humor and prose are easygoing and well suited for his young audience, and he doesn't pull many punches as he levels his eye at stereotypes both warranted and inapt." 

From The New York Times
"Sherman Alexie has explored the struggle to survive between the grinding plates of Indian and white worlds...The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian may be his best work yet." 

5. CONNECTIONS
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has been banned in various schools in the United States. Talking with students about banning books. Provide them a list of other books that have been removed from middle schools and high schools for their contents. Have them find common themes: sexuality, religion, swearing, violence, etc., as they related to young adult protagonists. What roles do these themes play in teen life? Are books like these helpful to understanding the diverse human experiences in the world or do they play a role in promoting risky or disrespectful behavior among young adults? 

On the ALA annual list of banned books, how many of them are written by diverse authors writing about authentic life experiences? Have the students research the list for the last 5 years. Is there a common theme? Are schools banning diverse voices more? What is there to be afraid of? 

Code Talker Review by Dana Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruchac, Joseph. Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two. New York: Speak, 2005. ISBN: 978-0142-405963. 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, 15 year old Ned Begay decides it's his duty to enlist in the Marines to help stop the Axis enemies in World War II. Little did he know he would become a top secret Code Talker. Using his native Navajo language that his white American boarding school teachers always told him was offensive and useless, Begay and hundreds of other Navajo Marines created an unbreakable code that was critical in the defeat of the Japanese. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS 
Joseph Bruchac's novel is - from start to finish - an illuminating work on the difficult and infuriating history between European Americans and Native Americans. Bruchac, who is Abenaki Indian, writes a respectful, authentic, and thoroughly researched novel representing Navajo life in the early 20th Century. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Ned Begay, a grandfather, is using the oral tradition of his people to share his history with his grandchildren. 

He concentrates not just on the battles but starts at the beginning of his journey when he was sent to an American boarding school at age 5. Native families were told that in order to be successful they needed to send their children to boarding school to learn English and be educated in the ways of European Americans. When Ned arrived at the school he was relieved not to be alone. "Like me, many of them wore family jewelry made of silver, inset with turquoise and agate and jet. Our necklaces and bracelets, belts and hair ornaments, were a sign of how much our families loved us, a way of reminding those who would now be caring for us how precious we were in the eyes of our relatives" (13). The children were dressed in their best. Ned's mother dressed similarly on the day he left for school so that the last memories he would have of her were happy and celebratory (5-6). Bruchac takes great care to describe dress, language, pronunciation, physicality, the importance of the hogan (home), Navajo rituals and the love and care that is felt among Navajo people, even those from different regions. 

These positive portrayals meet the constant abuse and discrimination the Navajo faced from very young ages like waves trying to wear down large rocks on a shore. School was not a safe place. It was violent, regressive, and run with the intention of condemning all Navajo practices. For example, Ned Begay was not born Ned Begay. He was born Kii Yázhí, but at the American Boarding School Navajo children were stripped of their names and given new ones, usually after American presidents. They also stripped all of the children of their fancy clothes and jewelry (which was sold off), and cut off their long Navajo hair. "I could see it from the looks on their faces that losing most of their beautiful hair made those girls feel the same way I felt. Naked and ashamed" (20). 

The Navajo language plays a starring role in this novel both in describing the difficulty of the language to be broken as a code, but also the love Ned has for his native tongue, and that he gets to use it in a pivotal role in American history. Ned is only 16 when he becomes a Marine. His parents, moved by his sense of duty, allow him to enlist early, and because Navajos were not born in hospitals, but at home, they have no birth records for the military to confirm. To keep him safe, Ned wraps himself in the faith of his people. Before he leaves, he attends a Blessingway - a singing ceremony that keeps the recipient safe and out of danger (53-54).  From the Blessingway, Ned is given a bag of corn pollen, and every morning while he is away, he greets the sun, thinks of his homeland (Dinetah), and sprinkles the corn pollen (82). Ned was explicit through the story that this daily ritual and thinking about his family and homeland made him more at peace in times of great anxiety and evil anticipation: "Being a Navajo and keeping to the Navajo way helped me survive" (140). 

Bruchac creates Ned's character to be very honest about the state of the world in which he lives. In addition to being very self-aware of the divide between the Navajo people and white America. He writes Ned as a teenager who is fascinated with many cultures in the world. Ned has deep thoughts about what he has in common with those he fights beside, fights against, and encounters on his journeys through the Pacific. 

Specifically, Ned, who once, as a boy, sent aid to the people of Japan after a catastrophic earthquake, has trouble reconciling his feelings of empathy with the fact that the Japanese are now his enemy. His friend Sam, another Navajo, also sees more than just an enemy when he encounters the Japanese on the battlefield: "When we saw them we realized that our enemies were just human beings" (97). Ned approaches each new relationship with incredible openness throughout the book. At one point, he found deep understanding with one of the Solomon Islanders over a shared love of their homelands, which were changed after invasion (102). 

The author is very specific about acknowledging not just Navajos who served in the war but all of the different Native American tribes that Ned met while he served, including Lakotas, Cheyenne, Cherokees, Choctaws, Zuni (170). By including them in the story, Bruchac recognizes the incredible diversity that exists within the bland label of "Native American." In specific scenes, the author brings characters from these different tribes together. They are able to find that they share similar challenges living among non-tribal people. In Okinawa, Ned and his friends find a goat and cook it. The smell brings men from many tribes to the fire to share in the meal giving them a sense of the old days "before any white man's war" (204). 

While it is true that this book is about World War II, it serves more as an important view into the culture of one particular native tribe. Native people are often looked down upon in white American culture. They are stereotyped as lazy or savage or drunk. While Bruchac's novel represents a time in the past, there are many aspects of the cultural and civil rights issues that the Navajos faced that present-day students can identify with.  Bruchac took years to research and publish Code Talker (223). He was dedicated to illustrating positive and accurate images of Navajo culture. In doing so he seems to support the idea that books "are vehicles that transfer cultural knowledge, awareness, and thought and bear the responsibility of holding the truth of our nation's past" (Smolen and Oswald 2011, 135). 

Code Talker is written primarily about the world of men during World War II. There are few female characters (Ned's mother and sister). Though Bruchac writes about them with much love and positivity, they exist far outside of the realms of a World War II soldier. This is a story about war and the ugliness that men can do. Younger readers will find that Ned, as the narrator, is a relief to children, because from the first page, as Ned talks to his grandchildren, it is understood that he will survive the war and continue his native traditions with his own family. 

There are many positive takeaways from this incredibly crafted story. The most important, I think, is the fact that the Marine Corps kept the Navajo Code Talker program secret from the public until 1969. The move was not just a matter of national security (213). It was reflective of a long history of trying to erase Native people from America's history by not giving them a place in it: "because we were Indians in what was still...a white man's world" (87). 

At the end of the novel, Bruchac lists his acknowledgments, a helpful bibliography, and recommended further reading about the Code Talkers and World War II for students who are interested in continuing their studies. 

4.  AWARDS and REVIEW EXCERPTS
ALA - Best Book for Young Adults, 2006

From Booklist 
"Even when facing complex negative faces within his own country. [Ned] is able to reach into his culture to find answers that work for him in a modern context. Readers who choose the book for the attraction of Navajo Code talking and the heat of the battle will come away with more than they ever expected to find." 

From School Library Journal
"Begay's lifelong journey honors the Navajo and other Native Americans in the military, and fosters respect for their culture." 

5. CONNECTIONS
In the book, Ned talks about many cultural beliefs that Navajos have that make his experience in the Marines easier and harder. Make a list showing things that were easy (e.g. knowledge about plants to survive on in the desert, being in extraordinary physical condition) and things that were difficult (e.g. being near and stepping over dead bodies). How was Ned able use his spirituality and the spirituality of the Navajo people to keep moving forward through battles, the death of friends, homesickness, gunfire, etc.? 

Make another list of the things in YOUR lives that you find challenging to deal with or easy to deal with. What or who do you look to help you get through your life challenges? Are there any parallels you are able to make with Ned even though you are from different backgrounds and live in different time periods? 

Next, get together in a small group or with a partner and share the parts of your list that you are comfortable sharing. Can you make the same parallels with your peers that you made with Ned? 

In addition to the previous exercise in empathy. Consider reading Code Talker alongside your history curriculum on World War II. Have students look through their history chapters. Are there any references to the Code Talkers? If not, ask them why not? If so, how many pages of the chapter include conversations about Native people. This may be a great time to teach students how to use an index, too. 

Other Source: 
Smolen, Lynn Atkinson and Ruth A. Oswald. Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2011.