[yalsa-bk] Compiled Absolutely True Diary Activities

Compiled by Kathleen Gruver [kgruver@bcls.lib.nj.us]

I have no idea what a OneBook program entails, but my teen book club loved,
loved the book. I thought it was pretty hilarious as well. Some suggestions
would be to find a local cartoonist for a program since that is a large
part of the book. If you know of a local Native American tribe that would
be willing to conduct a program, that would be interesting as well. You
could also do Native American crafts or Native American foods. There are
several themes in the book such as racism, poverty, alcoholism,
stereotypes, and eating disorders that might be good themes for discussions
or program ideas.

You may want to try a cartooning, visual arts, or oral history program for
the OneBook program. I would consider using the audiobook version because
Alexie narrates. It's awesome! And, of course, the regular book version
includes artwork. Watch the movie "Smoke Signals."

I did a one book program last summer. We used Life As We Knew It as our
selection. It was pretty successful. I had programs that related to the
book all summer. Canned food recipe contest, journal making, a trip to a
planetarium to learn more baout meteors and the author visited the library
at the end of the summer. We actually did not even do a book discussion
per se, the teens directed their discussion to the author.
Since the book does have some comic-style art in it, you could possibly do
a comic book workshop. Or, a make your own diary craft.
Maybe a basketball game, if you have an outside place for it?

I think one thing that might be fun is to have a journal that each kid
could write in about how they feel like they are different or unique in
their community. People wouldn't have to sign, and it could be done online,
but I bet you'd have some amazing comments to post that will get lots of
discussions going.

You could try something that I'm testing at our library later this
summer...a "Comic Slam", where each person draws/writes a panel of a comic
and passes it on to the next person to create a collaborative comic. Like
I said, I haven't tried it yet, but my teens are so into comics and art
that I thought it sounded like fun. I stole the idea from the Mid-Missouri
Comics Collective.

I have seen an example of cartoonists collaborating on a comic like that.
It is really very interesting how cartoonists give their own style to
others' characters. Good idea!!

Native American Program - Icebreaker: “Crumple” (15 minutes)
Each kid writes a fact about himself or herself on a sheet of paper, then
crumples it up and lobs it into a container. The papers are mixed up. Each
kid randomly picks a sheet, uncrumples it, and reads it out loud. Then that
person guesses who wrote it. The actual writer then stands up.

Movement/Game: Native American Stick Toss Game (10 minutes)

Book/Read Aloud: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian - (20
minutes or more, depending on interest level, read a chapter or two)

Craft: (35 minutes)
Make polymer clay beads to be used on the ends of ribbon as bookmarks.