Flight: A Novel

Flight

• Genre: Fiction; contemporary Native American literature
• Originally Published: 2007
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 550L; Grades 9 and up
• Structure/Length: 20 chapters; approximately 181 pages; approximately 4 hours, 41 minutes on audiobook
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The novel follows Zits, a troubled and mixed-race teenage boy who has experienced a life filled with abandonment and abuse. After a violent incident, he finds himself transported through time, inhabiting the bodies of various individuals at critical points in history, including Native Americans and those involved in acts of violence. The central conflict revolves around Zits’s exploration of identity, the impact of historical trauma on contemporary life, and his quest for self-understanding and redemption.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; mature themes; racial and historical trauma; intense and violent language. While Native people self-identify in a variety of ways, non-Native students should use the terms Native or Indigenous. Additionally, it is worth noting that Sherman Alexie was accused of sexual harassment in 2018 and later issued an apology, which is described in this article from NPR. Teachers may consider addressing this with students prior to reading his work and possibly facilitate a discussion about the tensions that sometimes exist between an artist, their work, and their actions and behaviors.