Since this year’s National Book Award announcement is right around the corner, I thought it’d be a good time to revisit last year’s winner in the Young People’s Literature category.
Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is full of bits I’d like to quote or read aloud, but I’ll limit myself to my favorites here, and you can read the rest yourself…
From a conversation between Junior and Gordy about books and libraries:
"The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don’t know….Okay, so it’s like each of these books is a mystery. Every book is a mystery. And if you read all the books ever written, it’s like you’ve read one giant mystery. And no matter how much you learn, you just keep on learning there is so much more you need to learn."
And here’s Junior, on losing his grandmother:
"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 all lived and died together."
See what he means by "Absolutely True"??
This is our book club selection for our meeting this Sunday. I wish you could be there!
Sherman’s on Colbert right this minute.
I got to hear him speak a few weeks ago, and I have my autographed copy (to my girls!) of the book, sitting here, waiting for me to read it. Can’t wait!
Jules
7-Imp
haha he spoke at my school and got banned… so sad =[