Provides high school teachers with teaching strategies, classroom
activities, and student samples for teaching the works of Sherman
Alexie.
Sherman Alexie is the premiere Native American writer of the
twenty-first century. His work-often charismatic, insistent, and
opinionated-has earned accolades and awards, including the 2007 National
Book Award for Young People's Literature. This volume in NCTE's High
School Literature Series examines ways to teach the works of Alexie,
including his film Smoke Signals; the short story collection The Lone
Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; several of Alexie's poems; the
novels Reservation Blues and Flight; and the National Book Award
winner The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Coauthors
Heather E. Bruce, Anna E. Baldwin, and Christabel Umphrey contextualize
Alexie's work in the larger body of works written in English by Native
American authors, but they also let Alexie's own voice shine through. As
with all volumes in the series, student samples are included, along with
a chapter that excerpts selections from pertinent literary criticism to
guide teachers in their study of Alexie's work. A companion website
provides additional instructional materials, including an introduction
to Native American literatures.