|
Online text and audio version of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, narrated by Sherman Alexie |
The Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club
"I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats" (6).
Chapter 1
|
Why Chicken Means so Much to Me
"Seriously, I know my mother and father had their dreams when they were kids. They dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams" (11).
Chapter 2
|
8th Fire - It's Time
Revenge Is My Middle Name
"He's a big, goofy dreamer, too, just like me. He likes to pretend he lives inside the comic books. I guess a fake life inside a cartoon is a lot better than his real life.
So I draw cartoons to make him happy, to give him other worlds to live inside.
I draw his dreams.
And he only talks about his dreams with me. And I only talk about my dreams with him." (23)
Chapter 3
Pages: 15-24 Activity: Character sketch of Rowdy
|
Because Geometry is not a Country Somewhere Near France
&
Hope Against Hope
"I was starting to understand. He was a math teacher. I had to add my hope to somebody else's hope. I had to multiply hope by hope" (43).
Chapters 4 & 5
Pages: 25-31, 32-43 Activity: Discussion Questions
|
Go Means Go
"I mean, they've always known that I'm weird and ambitious, so maybe they expect me to do the weirdest things possible. And going to Reardon is truly a strange idea. But it isn't weird that my parents so quickly agreed with my plans. They want a better life for my sister and me. My sister is running away to get lost, but I am running away because I want to find something." (46). |
Chapter 6
Pages: 43-47 Activity: Foreshadowing
|
Rowdy Sings the Blues,
How to Fight Monsters &
Grandmother Gives me Some Advice
"I felt brave all of a sudden. Yeah, maybe it was just a stupid and immature schoolyard fight. Or maybe it was the most important moment of my life. Maybe I was telling the world that I was no longer a human target." (65)
Tears of a Clown,
Halloween,
Slouching Towards Thanksgiving &
My Sister Sends an Email
"I draw cartoons...I take them seriously. I use them to understand the world. I use them to make fun of people. And sometimes I draw people because they're my friends and family. And I want to honor them." (95).
Thanksgiving,
Hunger Pains,
Rowdy Gives Me Advice About Love &
Dance, Dance, Dance
"If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing" (129).
Don't Trust Your Computer,
My Sister Sends Me A Letter &
Reindeer Games
"Well, life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community" (132).
Chapters: 18, 19 & 20
Pages: 130-149 Assignment: News Article
|
Web Quest: Sherman Alexie
Today's class will be dedicated to completing a webquest on Sherman Alexie.
Using the chart, and links on the right, read and analyze some of Alexie's essays, and interviews, to complete your research. |
|
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree,
Red Versus White,
Wake,
Valentine Heart &
In Like a Lion
"When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing. And so, laughing and crying, we said good-bye to my grandmother. And when we said good-bye to one grandmother, we said good-bye to all of them.
Each funeral was a funeral for all of us.
We lived and died together." (166).
Rowdy and I Have a Long and Serious Discussion About Basketball,
Because Russian Guys Are Not Always Geniuses,
Remembering, &
Talking About Turtles
"What do you say to people when they ask you how it feels to lose everything? When every planet in your solar system has exploded?" (213)
Chapters: 26, 27, 28 &29
|
A closer look at Sherman Alexie...
Interview with KCTS Acceptance Speech- 2007 National Book Award
|
|
To celebrate, or to ban? That is the question...
Assignment #2- Multi-paragraph Response
After reading the articles below, you must take a position on the novel. Specifically, should The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian be banned, or is it a book that teenagers should read because it deals with real-life problems?
|