It’s never easy being different.
But when you’re different not just because
of the color of your skin, or the amount of
money that your parents have in the bank,
or because of a physical disability, but because
of all three, let’s just say that your life
is probably going to be anything but easy.
What’s a teenager to do?
We’re gonna find out … in this week’s
Pick.
Junior, the main character in Sherman Alexie’s
book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian, doesn’t waste any time telling you
how different he is.
“I was born with water on the brain,”
he says.
That’s the first sentence of his story.
But Junior doesn’t want you to think of
him as handicapped.
Call it an irony, or call it one of the best
things about this book, but Junior actually
spends the entire story proving that he can
be anything he wants to be—no matter how
different he is.
Unfortunately for Junior, the odds are kind
of stacked against him.
Not only does he have a fragile head, but
he’s a Native American, he’s dirt poor,
and he’s about to suffer more tragedies
than anyone should have to endure in a lifetime—let
alone in a year.
But Junior pushes forward.
He makes friends and even excels in an all-white
school.
He works through alienation, his best friend’s
rejection, and hostility from his own community.
Through it all, Junior manages to keep you
laughing.
And he might even make you believe that “different”
isn’t really so bad after all.
