A novel about life as an adolescent growing up on a Spokane reservation, Sherman Alexie hits many hard topics that young adults deal with on a day-to-day basis. As his main character “Junior” navigates peer pressure, changing schools, conflict with his best friend, and family drama, he also has to endure criticism for being the only Native American in a school of predominately Caucasian classmates. Through his trials and tribulations, Junior keeps a positive outlook on his journey through high school albeit the reluctance of his tribe, as Alexie creates a loveable and quirky personality in his character. 

            The novels first shift is when Junior has an outburst on his first day of school on the reservation. Determined to receive a better education, and secure a brighter future for himself, he opts to go to school off the reservation, the first in his tribe to do so. Fighting internal battles between his heritage and his future, Junior finds courage inside himself that he never knew he had. In the end, he becomes at peace with his decisions and future life. 

            Sherman Alexie touches on many themes in this book relating to adolescent struggles living on a Native American reservation. Alcohol abuse, below standard education, poverty, and death, are a few of the issues concerning Native Americans and reservation life presently. At the first shift we see a reservation teacher pleading with the main character to get out and into a state funded public school to receive a better education for himself. He talks about the decades old books and the subpar teaching strategies used in reservation schools, and despite Junior’s health issues and being on of the brightest students, he had the will to follow through with the advise of the teacher. As an educator it is important for students to know their worth, and to be able to see potential in themselves as the grow into adults. Alexie opens the story with just that mentality. 

            I highly recommend this book, which cannot only be read outside of school but can be used in English classes, and U.S. history classes as well to teach about many current things happening in a teens life. Reading through this book, I have dog-eared many pages to photocopy to use as an activity in the classroom, whether it be an activity on tolerance, prejudice, oppression, Native American culture, or just how to deal with being new to high school, Alexie has defeated each of these subjects in a comprehensible way for young adults to understand and relate to.

            As one reads this novel, the perception of the Native American culture changes from a novelty heritage of a pre-colonial United States westward moving society, into a living breathing ethnicity in which people have been living there lives for centuries. Alexie’s limitations are few and far between, however, because he attacks this novel with many issues, the details of can be a bit lacking. While his address and message is straight forward, one wonders how a teenager can deal with many things going on at the same time, and not breakdown or falter at some point. 

            As we continue to see teenagers dive deeper into their technology and their own self awareness it is important to remind students that while people are all different, many things that happen in a persons life can be quite similar no matter what your background or ethnicity, people will always have stress, and emotion, and misunderstanding. For a school teacher it is imperative to teach students to understand tolerance in others, and understand that it’s the differences in one another that can break down the prejudice barriers into a more socially just and understanding world.