The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - by Sherman Alexie

I will preface this entry by saying that this is one of my very favourite books. I recommend it to friends (regardless of age) all the time; I follow Sherman Alexie on Twitter and Facebook. This is, surprisingly, only my second time through The Abosolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. My first time, I read it on an e-reader, and--likely through my own limited understanding of the reader's features--did not get to appreciate the drawings nearly as well as on paper. They are integral to the story and to Junior's character development.

The beauty of this book is that it is written about a very specific character from a very specific place (Arnold Spirit Junior from Spokane Indian reservation). What I'm getting at here is that there is no blank-slate main character that readers can fill in their own details to inhabit the story. And yet, somehow, it is easy to step into Junior's shoes. He is an engaging and inviting character.

Sherman Alexie manages to single-handedly create an entire world for you, offering such sharp insight and detail into Native American Indian culture, that you start to feel like you should be keeping a diary as a part-time Indian yourself. (Sposato, 2013, para 4). 

Alexie (2011) writes about an encounter with a 17-year-old reader who attended an elite private school, but who nonetheless identified with Junior's despair at the reservation school, because his father wanted him to join the military, and he wanted to be a writer. (para 18-21). The appeal of the book is universal because it taps into the painful part of growing up--having big dreams, but also beginning to realize that we have limitations and that some of those limitations are extremely unfair. The longing to escape family, while at the same time loving them more than anything.

It is a book that embraces the complexities of life. There are no perfect characters. Junior loves his family, but needs to leave the reservation to pursue his dreams. His thoughts about parenting highlight this: "Ever since I've been at Reardan, and seen how great parents do their parenting, I realize that my folks are pretty good. Sure, my dad has a drinking problem and my mom can be a little eccentric, but they make sacrifices for me. They worry about me. They talk to me. And best of all they listen to me  . . .  but those white dads can completely disappear without ever leaving the living room. They can just BLEND into their chairs. They become their chairs"(pp. 153--154).

This book is so accessible that it would be easy to trick a reluctant reader into enjoying something incredibly profound! Junior's observations about friendship, "yep, even weird boys are afraid of their emotions"(p. 132), and asking for help when you need it, "If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing"(p. 129), and even his appreciation of the five dollar bill his dad gave him for Christmas,"it was a beautiful and ugly thing"(p. 151) are profound, but not preachy,  which, I think, is a perfect description of a great YA book. Add to that a definition of grief that is absolutely perfect (for teenage boys) "When you feel so helpless and stupid that you think nothing will ever be right again, and your macaroni and cheese tastes like sawdust, and you can't even jerk off because it seems like too much trouble"(p. 172). Alexie in provides some humour describing the depths of despair. (Have I mentioned I love this book?)

Problems this book might encounter
This book has been on the top 10 most-challenged book lists since its publication in 2007. The book speaks about race and racism, bullying, alcoholism, violence, and masturbation. It can be a hard book to talk about, which, of course, is part of what makes it a great book. My son read this in Grade 6, and decided to present a book report to his class. Unfortunately, he chose to recreate some of the art, which works well in context, but comes off as really racist when a white kid does it. Fortunately, he had a good teacher, so some very good conversations happened in that classroom.
This is a book that needs to be in our libraries, in our YA/teen collections, and it needs librarians to ensure it stays there. Alexie (2011) writes the best defence of his book as follows:

I have yet to receive a letter from a child somehow debilitated by the domestic violence, drug abuse, racism, poverty, sexuality, and murder contained in my book. To the contrary, kids as young as ten have sent me autobiographical letters written in crayon, complete with drawings inspired by my book, that are just as dark, terrifying, and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read (para. 7).

References
Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. Little Brown: New York, Boston.

Alexie S. (2011, June 9). Why the best kids books are written in blood. The Wall Street 
Journal. Retrieved from: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/ 

Sposato, J. (2013). The absolutely true interview with Sherman Alexie, 

an amazing part-time Indian. Sadie Magazine. Retrieved from:

 http://sadiemagazine.com/past-issues/issue-no-4/c

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Patrick Ness is an author of whom I am particularly fond. He spearheaded a fundraiser for Syrian Refugees in 2015, which rallied childrens' authors from around the world to raise over 200,000 pounds. It was truly inspiring.

I fell in love with his writing within the first few sentences of The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first volume of his Chaos Walking trilogy. I laughed out loud with delight. There is little to laugh about in A Monster Calls, but I would add it to any YA collection, nonetheless.

A Monster Calls tackles the difficult subject of losing a loved one, in this case losing a parent. Conor's Mom is dying of cancer, and this book is the story of how Conor processes this fact and all the feelings that surround it . . .being left adrift in the world, with only a grandmother who he doesn't get along with very well, feelings of sadness and pain, and feeling outcast and invisible at school. Most importantly, there is the guilt that Conor feels,because he has thought the unthinkable; he has wished for it all to be over and dreamed of letting his mother go to be taken by a monster, by death.

Though there is never a right age to deal with death in fiction (or in life), by our teenage years, most of us have lost someone dear to us, be it a grandparent, parent, friend, or even just a beloved pet. Teenagers are beginning to navigate the world on their own and to see beyond the platitudes they were told about death as children, "it was her time"; "God called him home"; "everything happens for a reason". This is a book that allows for the unleashing of grief, raw and real, in monster form, and the complexity of wanting both the platitudes and the truth. It is an acknowledgment that life is unfair, and that only by speaking our own truth can we make it through. "Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both"(p. 191).

While this book may not reflect the reality of most teen readers' lives (after all, very few of us have monstrous Yew trees out back waiting to be called to "come walking"), it reflects the emotional truth of how grief can feel, debilitating sadness coupled with anger coupled with despair. For those who have not lost a loved one, this book can provide a window into understanding what others are going through and can be a reminder that we don't always know what others are going through. The monster, the depth of feeling, rarely surfaces in daylight hours, and can be a surprise and a shock to those who don't know it is there. For all of these reasons, I recommend adding A Monster Calls to our YA collection.

Problems this book might encounter

This books could be seen as too intense for a young teen reader.

References
Ness, P. (2011). A monster calls. Candlewick Press: Somerville, MA.

Blankets - by Craig Thompson

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Thompson’s Blankets. It is a beautifully drawn coming of age story with elements of religion, faith, sexuality, and family. It is a good addition to a YA collection for these reasons as well as the surging popularity of graphic novels.

I think Blankets is a good addition to a YA collection, because there is just so much going on in the book. If any book "mined emotional depths and examined the experience of becoming", it is this book. Thompson's drawings quickly draw the reader in to Craig's experience of childhood, sharing a bed with his brother, bullying by kids at school, his father's temper, being molested by a babysitter and not being able to protect his brother from the same fate. There is very little to be nostalgic about. We see broken connections between Craig and his parents, and between Craig and his brother though the guild he feels about not having protected him. Thompson sums up this lack depicting Craig and Phil's competition to walk on the crust of the snow, " . . . but I knew I wasn't competing against him, but against myself--against my own clumsy humanity that had lost synchronization with the earth"(p. 134).

Craig tries two different ways to fill the void within him left by the lack of safety and connection in his childhood: religion and Raina. What is lovely about the depiction of Craig's relationship with Raina is that we get to see his idealized vision of her as well as Raina as a person in her own right, in the context of her own complicated family life. In the end though, neither Raina nor the religion he had learned as a child and studied as a young man could fill the void. He moves to the city, though he does maintain contact with his family, and seems to have a better relationship with his brother. His experiences in the city, some of which fill a need (the public library) and some of which only seem to increase his loneliness and hunger for the truth. He returns in the end to what he has loved all along, which was drawing, "how satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface. To make a map of my movement - - no matter how temporary"(pp. 581-582).

This is a good addition to a YA collection because of Thompson's unique voice and style. It may not appeal to all teens, but a good number will find a friend in the tortured-artist protagonist, and his quest for answers and for love.

On a side note, I was also drawn in by the snow imagery, which seemed familiar and to make sense to me. I wonder if this book would appeal as much to those who no snowy experiences to draw on. 

Possible problems this book might encounter:

There are those who feel that some of the drawings are pornographic. This is a case where the novel should be properly shelved in a teen or YA area if one is available, and it should be clearly labelled as such. I would go so far as to suggest signs in the graphic novels section stating “not all comics are for kids” to prevent the unwary from exposing their children to something they were not ready for. Unfortunately, I think some parents will still have a problem with the book’s depiction of sexuality and of religion.

References

Thompson, C. (2015). Blankets. Drawn & Quarterly: Montreal.

Chopsticks - Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral

This is a beautiful and  complex story told in pictures, drawings, newspaper clippings, text conversations, and photographs. I think it would appeal to both reluctant readers (because of the lack of dense text) as well as to those who like to be challenged. The pictures are just as dense as text could be, and some of the clues are easy to miss. It can be a quick read, but for those who become invested in the story, it could become an obsession as well.

Chopsticks includes some multi-media elements, which would be easily accessible by teens with their ever-present wi-fi enabled devices, although they would have to go to the trouble of typing in the links. This element of the book would work better as an e-book, where the reader could simply click to watch a clip or listen to a piece of music. I fear the quality of the images would be diminished, especially on an e-reader. Advances in phone and tablets screens may render this difficulty obsolete, though there are considerations for an electronic vs paper format. The book is larger than a traditional paperback, and thus lends itself well to sharing and discussion, which would be more difficult on an electronic device, though you do often see children and teens huddled around the smallest of screens, so perhaps this is only a difficulty from an adult perspective.

The book has more to recommend than its format. The story itself is a compelling one that can be read, in the beginning, as a straight romance between the boy and the girl next door (she is a child-prodigy concert pianist and he is a recent immigrant who is having trouble fitting in at school). The happier portions of Glory and Frank's story resemble a teenage girl's scrapbook, full of mementos, hopes and dreams and remembered conversations. (Though the reader does have to keep in mind that the story begins with the news of Glory's disappearance.) In the middle portion of the book, we see Glory unraveling and unable to keep up her concert performances and in almost constant conflict with her father. Towards the end of the book, clues appear in the images that indicate things are not what they seem. The logo for Glory's rehab. facility is the same as that of Frank's school. The paintings first attributed to Frank are now seen to be signed by Glory. What is real and what isn't? The reader is left to decide.

Because of its format and the themes of mental-health, romance, and parent-child relationships, Chopsticks is a good choice for a YA collection.

Problems this book might encounter

Where does one shelve it? It is not a novel in the traditional sense, nor is it a graphic novel. It defies description a little, and thus classification. The question here is, how will this book find its way to readers. One possible answer is to bypass the shelves altogether and use it in a teen book club.

References
Anthony, J. & Corral, R. (2012). Chopsticks. Razorbill: New York

Conclusion

All of the books contained in this blog have been approved for addition to my YA collection. They are all novels of becoming, but there are many stories being told here. The emotional truth of these stories is given to us in different and diverse ways: through illustration in Blankets, through pictures and multi-media elements in Chopsticks, through fantasy and the monstrous in A Monster Calls and The Ocean at the End of the Lane. 

There is heartache, domestic violence, mental illness, death, cancer, assault, racism, and bullying, There are also the joys of becoming,  of change, of finding the perfect partner at the perfect time, of making your mark, of revising childhood joys.

While we may not have something for everyone just yet, we've made a good start, and I look forward to reading and adding more stories of becoming from even more diverse storytellers.