The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Author: Sherman Alexie

Reading level: Young Adult

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Rated 10/10

The book that launched Sherman Alexie onto the YA market is now available in a deluxe collector's edition! Beautifully designed with a gifty new look that includes a foil-stamped, die-cut slipcase and 4-color interior art, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.

In his nationally acclaimed, semi-autobiographical YA debut, author Sherman Alexie tells the heartbreaking, hilarious, and beautifully written story of a young Native American teen as he attempts to break free from the life he was destined to live.

MY REVIEW
Awesome book, it's one of the funniest and saddest books I have ever read. This book made me want to cry and laugh at the same time. I can't relate to Junior in the Native American sense breaking free from the rez, but I can relate to him in the sense of breaking free from the group and what is expected of you. This book is totally different than the books I usually read but I am glad I'm starting to break out of my bubble. It  has some really funny little drawings that helps make the story feel more complete too. Junior is a 14 year old Native American boy who lives on the Spokane Reservation. He's best friends with Rowdy, the toughest kid on the rez. But on the first day of his freshman year at school he realizes that he wants more than what the school on the rez can ever give him. So Junior decides that he could get a better education if he goes to the white school in the next town over, 22 miles away, at Reardan. It's a town full of white people and most are racist. All the natives on the rez look at Junior as a traitor and mock and shun him, including Rowdy. In this book Junior finds acceptance and realizes his dreams, even though his life will never be like the kids at Readan he doesn't care. He finds happiness even though the people he loves and cares for are dying and realizes he just wants to live life outside the rez even though he loves his tribe a lot. It's a story of breaking free and becoming an individual and living life your own way, not what's expected of you.

Sorceress by Celia Rees

Author: Celia Rees

Reading level: Young Adult

Publisher: Candlewick

Rated 10/10

                                                                                     

For the legions of readers spellbound by WITCH CHILD, here’s the fascinating next chapter - thanks to a Native American descendant with an uncanny link to the past.

Agnes closed her eyes in the heat and steam of the sweat lodge. She woke to air that was dry and cold around her. She was no longer Agnes, or even Karonhisake, Searching Sky. She was no longer American or Haudenosaunee. She was English, and her name was Mary, and she woke to find that she was dying, freezing to death.

It came to Agnes unbidden - a vision of Mary Newbury, alone in the snow, dying of the cold. A vision of a young woman who had lived in the 1600s, who had been driven from her Puritan settlement, accused of being a witch. It was an image of a woman whose life was about to change radically as she embarked on an existence that defied all accepted norms - embracing passionate independence, love, and loyalty to a proud, endangered community that accepted her as one of their own. Mary’s and Agnes’s lives have been separated by almost 400 years, but they are inextricably linked by more than blood. For, like Mary, Agnes has special powers - and Mary now seeks these powers to ensure that the rest of her story is told.

MY REVIEW
I give this book and A+ just like it's prequel. This is the sequel to Witch Child and I'm really glad this book was written.At the end Of Witch Child I just wanted to know more about what happened to Mary and this book does a great job of telling you. We get to meet people from the present working to find out what happened and we get to see Mary's life through Agnes a modern Irquois native girl. We also get to see how Native Americans were treated by the English and the French during their times of warring and it made me a lil upset just how many people don't know.It was tragic and it really made me mad that's how our country came to be. But if you love native culture,history, and good well written books then you will defiantly love this one, I do.