Gabe’s dad and I were involved in social justice work, and we owned many children’s books that attempted to answer hard questions about intolerance.

But Gabe became so tired of books about kids working in fields, dying in the holocaust, being spit on during desegregation and beat up by goons that he threw Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian across the room when first introduced to it.

“I’m sick of all these books where bad things happen to kids!” he yelled.

A couple years later, that same book was the first he read start-to-finish. I was so impressed that I wrote a letter to the author:

Dear Sherman Alexie:

I’m a huge fan. My son, Gabe, happens to be Jewish and African-American. I’m the Jewish part, though when I worked at the Seattle Indian Health Board, people thought I was Native American. I’m a native Seattleite. Ever since Gabe was little, I surrounded him with books about every bad thing done to Blacks, Jews, Native Americans, LGBTQ, and other oppressed peoples.

He almost never reads fiction, so I’m always searching for the right novel to lure him into the love of reading I inherited from my librarian mom and reading teacher dad. I want him to run into telephone poles glued to a book like I did growing up.

I brought home The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and read the first pages aloud. We got to something depressing about the Rez, and he grabbed it, ripping some of the pages. It was one book too many with another sad story about the downtrodden of America.

A year later, when Gabe was twelve, I tried again. As so often happens while reading to him, I fell asleep talking gibberish. I stumbled off to bed. This time, Gabe kept reading. 

He loved your book and quickly finished it. Cynical humor of life from a different culture hit home. Gabe’s life was about not fitting-in, wishing for the Cosbys as parents but stuck with an “unblended” family of Lesbian moms, a Cuban ex-stepmom, Mexican ex-stepsister, and an un-Cosby-like dad. In your book, there’s intense despair but also survival, hope, and a humor Gabe knows from both sides of his family. Not the perfect Cosby episode he believed his friends lived, but a different kind of story.  

So, here’s my question: What other books might you recommend for a kid like Gabriel Yosef Raphael Johnson?

At his school, where they try to do progressive things like setting individual goals, Gabe said his was “learn to like reading.” I told them about the one novel that he devoured—yours. His teacher said he’d work with Gabriel to find a book that “spoke to him” the way yours did.

For three weeks I asked Gabriel if he got “the book.” Finally, he responded in his irritated-but-try-to-be-patient-with-mom-she’s-had-a-rough-life tone, “Yes, mom. I got THE book.”

“What did you get?”

“The Bible.”

I can never tell if Gabe’s just shooting for a reaction. 

Gabe has tried to deny being Jewish, but his cynicism, interrupting, “strong nose,” progressive politics, love of food, and taste for edgy writers like Jon Stewart, Larry David, and Borat betray him. He now signs his texts, “Afro-Jew Without a Fro.” 

At Gabe’s Bar Mitzvah, the synagogue was filled with about 200 African-Americans, Latinos, and assorted others. Gabe read poetry, and his dad and great-aunts sang gospel music. His sermon led with a story about teen prostitution, talked about Bernie Maddoff, and described Gabe’s disappointment in Pastrami sandwiches—all supporting his Torah theme, “What to do if your wife is unfaithful.”  His African-American (Christian) friends told their parents they, too, wanted a “Bro-Mitzvah.”

Gabe said it would be the last time he’d set foot in the Temple. His top pick for schools is Maranantha—not just a Catholic school (now quite acceptable for Jewish kids) but “Christian” where you sign an oath of faith in the Holy Trinity. I’m okay with the chastity vow.

So, about that book: “Yes mom, the Bible—there’s lots of good stories.”

I was stumped. “Well, at least you’re reading fiction.”

“I’m serious, mom, the Bible. Do you have a problem with it?”

It took me a moment. “Well... uh… not what I expected. Tell me: Old or New Testament?” I was reaching.

“New Testament, mom—the other is just crap,” Gabe declared happily.   

So here I am, coming to you, as I should have a year ago when he first read your book. Gabe reads well, though he has challenges with attention. He’s always read nonfiction and history with an eye to story, not just facts. At seven, he’d recount historical sports statistics with added details: “Now Ty Cobb, he was one of the greatest… but also a real racist.”

So, Mr. Alexie, what book list would you recommend for Gabriel?   Thanks for listening and for sharing your amazing stories with all your readers.

Sincerely,

Gabriel’s mom

Patch Asks: How do you teach your children about injustice and intolerance? And what about instilling a love of reading?

Stay tuned for recommended reading lists. WATCH the attached slideshow for mine. 

And click HERE for a list of resources per the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.