The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Adolescence is, at its essence, a time of change: physical change, emotional change, and the terrifying promise of change that comes with the beginning to question one's identity. Margaret A. Edwards, the guiding spirit of modern teen librarianship, defined the problem of young adulthood in The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts: “[Young adults] are people in their teens who have outgrown the role of children and have become eager, anxious understudies of adults,” she writes. Suspended between the two figurative worlds of childhood and adulthood, these adolescents struggle to define themselves, even as their perception of the world around them changes.
So who could be more appealingly relatable to young adults than a character suspended between two identities and two worlds?
Enter Arnold Spirit, the hero of Sherman Alexie's young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Arnold is literally caught between two worlds, and spends much of this delightfully poignant and funny novel trying to make a place for himself in the in-between. At his brand-new, all-white high school, he is Arnold the Indian; at home on the reservation, he is Junior the white-lover. “I felt like two different people inside of one body,” Arnold narrates, adding, “No, I felt like a magician slicing myself in half” (Diary, 61). In the article "Selecting Literature for a Multicultural Curriculum," Rudine Sims Bishop states that "Literature can contribute to self esteem by holding up to its readers images of themselves" (“Selecting,” 4). Though Sims Bishop is discussing the value of multicultural literature for minority readers, this commentary rings true for the young adult readers of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian from all walks of life. All adolescent readers are, on some level or other, grappling with changing worlds and changing identities, and to see their own problems reflected in fiction can give them the self-esteem that seems so scarce in the turbulent teen years.

The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street brings the experience of adolescence to life through the unique voice of Esperanza, a girl growing up in the Latin quarter of Chicago. Esperanza’s story contains many of the most common elements one would expect in a story of growing up: family strife, discovering the opposite sex, and school woes, but her Mexican background makes her tale stand out, as most YA novels have white, suburban protagonists. The House on Mango Street also differs from typical YA literature because the author, Cisernos, uses a series of vignettes told from Esperanza’s perspective to bring her world to life.
The novel touches on a number of themes which all adolescents will understand and identify with as they read. Esperanza, like many teens, looks for ways to assert her independence from her family. She does this by doing things like getting a part time job and staying at school to eat lunch even while the rest of her family goes home. She also wishes to rename herself to escape the legacy of her grandmother, who was also called Esperanza. The idea of community and cultural identity are also explored througout the House on Mango Street, and teens, who need "strong, caring communt(ies)" (Search Institute 1) in order to thrive, will appreciate the neighborhood where Esperanza lives and what it means to her. The book also looks at sexual maturation, though in subtle ways such as Esperanza and her friends talking about what they will do when they "get hips." Adolescent girls will especially identify with the main character as she talks about her concerns and hopes for herself and her appearance as she matures.
The House on Mango Street gives readers a lot to think about while bringing a world to life, and it deserves its place as a YA standard.

American Born Chinese -- Gene Leun Yang

Through three entwined plots, American Born Chinese explores relationship and identity development. The first storyline is a retelling of the Monkey King; the second is about a friendship between an American born Chinese (Jin) and a Taiwan-born Chinese (Wei-Chen); and the third is about a teenage boy (Danny) and his stereotypical Chinese cousin Chin-Kee).

Through Jin's friendship with Wei-Chen and his developing romantic interest in Amelia, American Born Chinese demonstrates developing stable and productive peer relationships (Havighurst) and appeals to the needs of the social self (Hughes-Hassell and Agosto).

After being thrown out of a dinner party, the Monkey King becomes ashamed of his bare feet and demands that all his monkey subjects wear shoes. It takes being trapped under a mountain of rock for five hundred years for him to realize that he is a monkey and monkeys do not need to wear shoes. Similarly, Jin is so embarrassed by his heritage that he rejects it completely and turns into Danny. Both the Monkey King and Jin's experiences appeal to a YA's development of a personal sense of identity and their need for information on forming self-image.

Chink-Kee is the embodiment of negative Chinese stereotypes: his outfit and hairstyle are reminiscent of the political cartoons of the 1880s, during the Chinese Exclusion Act, he knows the answer to every question the teacher asks, he eats "clispy flied cat gizzards wiff noodles" and his singing would probably embarrass William Hung. By including a character like Chin-Kee, Yang allows his readers to challenge their stereotypes and develop their personal value system.

Finally, the graphic novel hints at the disconnect between American-born Chinese and foreign-born Chinese. When Jin justifies kissing Suzy, he says to Wei-Chen, "Maybe I think she can do better than a FOB like you." By making readers aware of these tensions among Chinese Americans, Yang helps the reader develop cultural competency and cultural identity.