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

Fourteen-year-old Junior is frustrated with his life on the Spokane Indian reservation.  He gets beat up all of the time because of a physical disability, his family’s crushing poverty means there is never any food in his stomach, and he’s afraid that he will end up in the same hopeless, alcoholic cycle as so many of his family members.  When he opens up his tattered geometry book in school and realizes that it is the same one that his mother used over thirty years ago, Junior reaches his boiling point and throws the book as hard as he can.  Unfortunately, it smashes into his elderly teacher’s face.  Rather than scold him, the teacher shocks Junior by forgiving him and encouraging him to get off the reservation before he loses hope and gives up like everyone else. 

In a move that has never been done before at the reservation, Junior decides to enroll in a rich prep school located twenty minutes away where the only other Indian is the school mascot.  Everyone on the reservation calls him a traitor and an apple (red on the outside, white on the inside) and everyone at his new school believes every stereotype about Indians is true and treats him like a freak.  His best friend on the reservation feels betrayed and wants to beat him up for leaving, which leaves Junior all alone and torn between the two places.

Junior considers himself an awkward nerd, but he is also incredibly tough.  From punching the captain of the football team in the nose to dealing with tragedy within his family, Junior never gives up and keeps his sharp sense of humor and hope. He is a budding cartoonist, and there are witty drawings scattered throughout the book.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is equally hilarious and heartbreaking, and Junior and his struggles will probably stay with me for a long time.