81 pages 2 hours read

Sherman Alexie, Helena Hunting

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2007

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapters 13-15

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary: “My Sister Sends Me an Email”

Mary emails Junior from Montana, saying she loves her new life. She is looking for a job and describes the Flathead Reservation, which has six or seven towns, a few of which are full of White people. She tells Junior about her honeymoon on Flathead Lake, where she and her husband stayed in a hotel and ordered room service, including Indian fry bread. She imagined a Flathead Indian grandmother making it in the hotel kitchen. She ends her letter saying she loves her life, her husband, and Montana, and she tells Junior she loves him as well.

Chapter 14 Summary: “Thanksgiving”

Junior and his family celebrate Thanksgiving with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. He remarks that it’s funny that Indians celebrate Thanksgiving because a few years after the original Thanksgiving Day, the pilgrims were shooting Indians. His dad says they’re thankful that the pilgrims didn’t kill all of them, and they laugh. Junior notes his dad is sober and it’s a great day.

Junior misses Rowdy, so he draws a cartoon of them as superheroes and brings it to Rowdy’s house. Rowdy’s obviously drunk father answers the door, and Junior leaves the cartoon with him. Rowdy’s father says Junior is “kind of gay” (103).

Related Titles

By these authors

Study Guide

logo

Disgrace

J. M. Coetzee, Jacob Morgan, Helena Hunting, Rose Dioro

Disgrace

J. M. Coetzee, Jacob Morgan, Helena Hunting, Rose Dioro

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Flight

Sherman Alexie

Flight: A Novel

Sherman Alexie

Study Guide

logo

Indian Killer

Sherman Alexie

Indian Killer

Sherman Alexie

Study Guide

logo

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Tracy Kidder, Helena Hunting

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

Tracy Kidder, Helena Hunting

Study Guide

logo

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City

Sherman Alexie

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City

Sherman Alexie

Study Guide

logo

Reservation Blues

Sherman Alexie

Reservation Blues

Sherman Alexie

Study Guide

logo

Reservation Love Song

Sherman Alexie

Reservation Love Song

Sherman Alexie

Plot Summary

logo

Ten Little Indians

Sherman Alexie, Jedidiah Jenkins

Ten Little Indians

Sherman Alexie, Jedidiah Jenkins

Study Guide

logo

The Facebook Sonnet

Sherman Alexie

The Facebook Sonnet

Sherman Alexie

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Sherman Alexie, J.D. Salinger

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Sherman Alexie, J.D. Salinger

Plot Summary

logo

The Toughest Indian in the World

Sherman Alexie, Ellis Avery

The Toughest Indian in the World

Sherman Alexie, Ellis Avery

Study Guide

logo

This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona

Sherman Alexie

This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona

Sherman Alexie

Plot Summary

logo

War Dances

Sherman Alexie

War Dances

Sherman Alexie