breaking & entering
Story Preparation
Introduction
Like the narrator of “Breaking and Entering,” Sherman J. Alexie, Jr. grew up on the Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He was born with hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and was not expected to survive. Throughout his childhood, he suffered seizures, yet he learned to read by age three and was gobbling up novels such as The Grapes of Wrath by the time he was in kindergarten. At his off-reservation high school, he was the only Indian, except for the school mascot. He excelled in his classes and became a star basketball player, an experience that inspired his first young-adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Alexie attended Gonzaga University and Washington State University, intending to become a doctor, but after fainting numerous times in a human anatomy class, he shifted career paths and tried a poetry workshop. Just one year after leaving WSU, his first two poetry collections were published. He had a brief struggle with alcohol, but gave up drinking at age 23, and has been sober ever since. He is a prolific writer of fiction, poetry and essays, and the recipient of numerous awards, including a PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction, the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award and a 2007 National Book Award in young people’s literature. He is also a stand-up comic, a title-holder in the World Poetry Bout and a screenwriter; the movie Smoke Signals, based on his short story, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” received a Christopher Award for works “which affirm the highest values of the human spirit.” In February 2003, Alexie participated in the Museum of Tolerance project “Finding Our Families, Finding Ourselves,” which showcased the diversity within the personal histories of several renowned Americans and encouraged visitors to seek out their own histories, mentors and heroes. Two of his books, War Dances and The Absolutely True Diary of a
Introduction
Like the narrator of “Breaking and Entering,” Sherman J. Alexie, Jr. grew up on the Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He was born with hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and was not expected to survive. Throughout his childhood, he suffered seizures, yet he learned to read by age three and was gobbling up novels such as The Grapes of Wrath by the time he was in kindergarten. At his off-reservation high school, he was the only Indian, except for the school mascot. He excelled in his classes and became a star basketball player, an experience that inspired his first young-adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Alexie attended Gonzaga University and Washington State University, intending to become a doctor, but after fainting numerous times in a human anatomy class, he shifted career paths and tried a poetry workshop. Just one year after leaving WSU, his first two poetry collections were published. He had a brief struggle with alcohol, but gave up drinking at age 23, and has been sober ever since. He is a prolific writer of fiction, poetry and essays, and the recipient of numerous awards, including a PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction, the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award and a 2007 National Book Award in young people’s literature. He is also a stand-up comic, a title-holder in the World Poetry Bout and a screenwriter; the movie Smoke Signals, based on his short story, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” received a Christopher Award for works “which affirm the highest values of the human spirit.” In February 2003, Alexie participated in the Museum of Tolerance project “Finding Our Families, Finding Ourselves,” which showcased the diversity within the personal histories of several renowned Americans and encouraged visitors to seek out their own histories, mentors and heroes. Two of his books, War Dances and The Absolutely True Diary of a