The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a book I hadn’t heard of until recently. (I learned about it while reviewing Time magazine’s list of the 100 best YA books of all time.) Most of the books I had at least heard of and many I had read in the past. However, this one was new to me and the title and cover were intriguing, so I thought I’d give it a try. I’m so glad I did!
The novel centers around a Native American teenager named Junior who lives on the Spokane reservation. He is an awkward guy who loves to draw cartoons and uses his art to express his feelings about the world around him. In fact, there are cartoon drawings sprinkled throughout the book.
Junior is often picked on, and even beat up, at his school on the reservation. When he realizes that he isn’t getting the best education there, he makes the decision to go to the white school in a nearby town. It’s a controversial decision since people in his tribe see him as a traitor and he also doesn’t readily fit in in his new school. As a result, he and his best friend Rowdy have a terrible falling out, leaving Junior even more alone.
Alexie’s book is a National Book Award winner, and with good reason. It deals with serious topics, like racism, substance abuse, and poverty. However, Alexie presents the story with humor, making it an enjoyable read. You can expect to run across some racist language, but it is used in a way that helps to tell the story, so it is necessary. In addition, there is some crude language and humor, but again, it adds to the authenticity of the novel.
Hello Friends! Here’s another easy craft with few supplies needed.
Supplies: Construction paper, glue or tape, scissors, writing utensils (pencil, marker, crayons, etc)
Directions:
Cut out the grass, stems and leaves with green construction paper.
Cut out petals for as many flowers you would like to make. My flowers are big – you may want to make small flowers and then add other details such as the sun, clouds, birds, etc.
What are you grateful for? There are so many things! Write them on your petals.
Donna’s corona virus project is in the works. I’m trying this project with Red Plastic bags to make a small rug.
Start with the cutting of the Plarn, plastic yarn, with rotary cutter and mat. You can use sizzors but, easier with rotary cutter. 3inch circles, will get 4 per bag. Then loop circles together to make the Plarn.
Started to make a circle with crochet size N, pattern calls for size Q, have to go with what I have.
The Plarn is not as easy to use as yarn, it does not slide as easy and the knots get in the way. I’m amazed at how much Plarn is needed for this project but it is taking shape. About an 1 1/2 hours of work between cutting the Plarn and then crocheting it. About 4 inches in diameter.
About 2 hours more and about 20 bags to make this so far 7 inches in diameter. It is making a close to 1/2 inch thick rug and is getting easier with a larger piece to work with.
I hope some of you have started a plarn project as well! It will be fun to compare our rugs.
Hope you had a good week and are ready for your new library “job” today! I bet you are all great at being a librarian at home. At EPL, we change our book displays every week, so you can create a new display this week, too. What will your new display be? Guess what, we do story time each week too! Can you create a new story time? Who will come? Now here is your NEW job!
JOB TASK 3: WEEDING!
Weeding? Not in the garden! We weed at the library. That means we look through our library books and sometimes donate or sell books that we may have two copies of, that are not popular anymore, or that are worn or damaged. You can weed, too! Look through your books.
Do you have any books that you don’t read anymore? Are too young for you? Books that might have gotten torn or wet or ruined?
Make two signs. One that says KEEP and one that says WEED. Go through each book. Make a pile of books you would like to weed. Things you can do with your weeded books:
give to a brother or sister, friend or cousin
put them in a Little Library
donate
sell
Make another pile of books you want to KEEP! (I will KEEP my dog Jasper, too! 😊)
Here’s an interesting “safer at home” project: I’m going to try and make a small area rug out of used plastic grocery bags. To do this I’m going to make what they call plarn out of the grocery bags which is another way of saying ” plastic grocery bag yarn” and then crochet it into a circle. Neat way to use and recycle grocery bags at pretty much no cost.
I’m going to be following the directions at this website for crocheting the rug.
I think my rug will be red as I’m using Piggly Wiggly bags. This sounds very Edgertonian don’t you think? I’ll post pictures as I go, and I hope some of you will try making a plarn rug as well!
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