Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

What is the worst thing about life in a poor Indian reservation? Well, besides the fact that your stomach is mostly empty, there’s no money at home, and your classmates beat you up every day? It’s that everyone, except for... family maybe, doesn’t give a damn about you, your dreams, and aspirations — anyway, sooner or later you’ll take up the bottle and die some ridiculous death, like all the Indians... But Arnold Spirit Jr. is not ready for that scenario — he dreams of breaking out of his hometown reservation and going to a place where hope will finally dawn on him, an Indian. But are there ever exceptions to the rules?
In this semi-autobiographical novel, Sherman Alexie — a Native American — tells the story of his childhood: what it was like to grow up in a poor Indian reservation, and then muster the courage to leave for a white school, to become something more than just a poor Indian boy. For this honest, bittersweetly humorous and hopeful novel, Sherman Alexie received worldwide recognition and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2007.