In his book, "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me," Sherman Alexie explains how he taught himself to read by perusing through a Superman comic book at the age of 3. He looked at the illustrations and imagined what words would accompany them. His early fascination with reading led him to read nearly anything he could get his hands on. He got his fascination of reading from his father who was, by all accounts, an avid reader. In Alexie's childhood home, piles of books waiting to to be read were common-place in his family home. His family read murder mysteries, gangster epics, basketball biographies and anything else they could get their hands on. .
According to "The Joy of Reading.," most Indians in that time were expected to be short, quiet and uncommunicative in-front of their non-Indian teachers, and did not want to speak up or seem smart in the classroom, especially at the young age Alexie was. Therefore they were comfortable around other Indians but came off as completely un-intelligent around non-Indians. He always spoke out in class and asked questions, he was not afraid to stand out, because he knew it was not necessarily a bad thing. Alexie describes a smart Indian viewed as "a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike" (29). Despite this, he refused to fail, he was smart, and arrogant. Alexie's intelligence and will to learn as a child is an inspiring story.
Alexie talks about how he now also not only enjoys writing for a living but also speaking to Indian children. He states "I visit schools and teach creative writing to Indian kids. In all my years in the reservation school system, I was never taught how to write poetry, short stories, or novels. I was certainly never taught that Indians wrote poetry, short stories, or novels. Writing was something beyond Indians. I cannot recall a single time that a guest teacher visited the reservation" (30).
