From Wellpinit to Reardan: Sherman Alexie's Journey to the National Book Award

[...]Sherman finds a way to talk about basketball in most presentations or conversations or even on his book tour blog (http:// www.fallsapart.com/FlightBlog.htm). Honoring Indian English is important to Sherman: Part of the issue in the Indian world is that when you're talking about adults, me...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The ALAN review 2008-12, Vol.35 (2), p.69
Main Author:	Blasingame, Jim
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Alexie, Sherman (1966- ) Awards Book awards Community Relations Computer Assisted Instruction Defense mechanisms Family (Sociological Unit) Heart High school basketball High School Students Mathematics Teachers Mothers Native North Americans Students Team Sports Young adults
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	[...]Sherman finds a way to talk about basketball in most presentations or conversations or even on his book tour blog (http:// www.fallsapart.com/FlightBlog.htm). Honoring Indian English is important to Sherman: Part of the issue in the Indian world is that when you're talking about adults, mentors, or public figures, we often distance ourselves from our people in a way. Because our success comes in the non-Indian world, we end up, culturally, speaking a non-Indian English and leaving that other English for kids. The best young adult literature helps kids to make sense of their lives, including The Absolutely True Diary of a Pan-time Indian, which has so far won: * 2008 American Indian Youth Literature Award * 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature * Publishers Weekly 2007 Best Books of the YearChildren's Fiction * The New York Times Notable Children's Books of 2007 * National Parenting Publication Gold Winner 2007 * Amazon.com Best Books of 2007 * School Library Journal Best Books of 2007 * Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Books of 2007 * Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of 2007 * The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Winner * Kansas City Star's Top 100 Books of the Year When asked what he thinks it is about this book that helps kids make sense of their own lives, Sherman laughs and says, Well, my initial response is to say that if they read the book, they should think that if this poor-ass reservation kid can make it, it should be easy for them, living in the suburbs. [...]the very end of the book is a basketball game, but just before that, Junior/Sherman says: I realized that I might be a lonely Indian boy, but I was not alone in my loneliness.
ISSN:	1547-741X 0882-2840 1547-741X