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Michael LeBlanc
Professor Lorie Donahue
English 235
November 21, 2017
Thunder and Lightning

Thunder Boy Jr. is Sherman Alexie’s first entry into the world of picture books,

published on May 10, 2016, about a young Native American boy’s journey to find his own

name. He doesn’t want to live his whole life in his father’s shadow, but he also doesn’t want to

upset his father by asking him for a new name, so he tries to come up with a name that reflects

his own personality. Thunder Boy Jr. teaches children to be proud of their own individuality,

while at the same time providing a fun and colorful journey through the imagination of Thunder

Boy Smith Jr. Alexie strives to bring attention to Native American culture, and get them more

representation in literature; with the help of illustrator Yuyi Morales, Thunder Boy Jr. is

certainly a bombastic look into Native American culture that is sure to get people looking

forward to more.

Sherman Alexie originally came up with the idea for Thunder Boy Jr. at his the funeral of

his father, the man he was named after, much like Little Thunder. Alexie remarks how "The

weight of that moment really hit me--the good and the bad of being named for your father, the

tremendous pressure, and the weirdness of seeing my name on that tombstone. It hit me hard"

(Corbett). After seeing his own name on a tombstone, Alexie finished his first and only young

adult novel, The True Story of a Part Time Indian. The book was a massive success, and in

writing it, Alexie had discovered something about his relationship with his father. Much like
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Big Thunder did with his son in the book, Alexie’s father had given him his name, but also a way

to distinguish himself from his father. At the age of 14, his father allowed him to travel 22 miles

to go to high school; this was extremely against the conservative teachings of the Spokane

reservation Indians. This incredibly liberal denial of standard tradition made Alexie who he is

today, and he honors that in his book Thunder Boy Jr.

Even though Alexie is more accustomed to writing short stories than novels or other

young adult books, writing Thunder Boy Jr. proved to be “It's the hardest thing I've ever tried to

write.” (Corbett) He thought he would be able to find the “right combination of intelligence and

beauty” required to make a successful children’s book, but this proved to be a greater challenge

than he though, taking him thirty tries before he even sent the manuscript to his editor (Corbett).

What he eventually came up with is beautifully simple; a young boy, recounting his past

experiences and learning about himself from them.

Thunder Boy Jr. has a certain humor to it in the way Little Thunder romps through the

book “presenting his case like a seasoned lawyer as he goes in search of a better, cooler

moniker,” with the blunt way he thinks of everything reminiscent of a child’s thought process

(Caldwell). Every page is laid out in virtually the same way; Little Thunder remarks something

about himself, “I love playing in the dirt,” and then goes on to suggest name like “Mud in his

ears” based on his remark. The repetition of the phrase “So maybe my name should be” also

helps keep it consistent. The entire book is written very personally, with Little Thunder talking

directly to the reader, and the simple language, much like what you would use in a casual

conversation at the playground, reinforces this dynamic. Everything in the book is made to be
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easily relatable to children; Little Thunder’s names and the situations that inspired them are

mostly mundane in nature, such as touching a wild animal or having a funny dream about your

parents, but he finds a way to incorporate them in to such fantastical names as “Not Afraid of

Ten Thousand Teeth” and “Star Boy.” This teaches children to find the spectacular in their own

everyday lives, and to always see every moment as a defining factor in their lives worth

cherishing. This message is delivered clearly and concisely, as children aren’t always willing to

listen to long winded stories, even those “told” by other children. Like many books for early

reading, the conflict in this book is very much person vs. self. Little Thunder struggles with

finding his own identity out from under his father’s shadow, and his struggle is ultimately solved

with outside help from his father. The setting of the book is never really set; the book goes

wherever Little Thunder needs it to go to illustrate the large mountains he climbs, or the orca he

once wasn’t afraid to touch.

When deciding who was going to illustrate his book, Alexie was very particular about

who he wanted. He “didn't care if it was a man or a woman, but (he) certainly wanted somebody

brown.” (Corbett) After seeing her work in Nino Wrestles The World, Alexie was convinced he

wanted Yuyi Morales to do the artwork for his book. Unfortunately, the feeling wasn’t

immediately mutual; Morales had made the decision that she wanted to make her own books, and

refused to take any outside assignments. The fact that she even agreed to illustrate the book at

all was a stroke of luck: her son had been a huge fan of Alexie’s as a teen, his books being

passed around the family so everyone could enjoy them. Because of this, she agreed to have the

manuscript sent over, so she could decide if she wanted to accept the job or not. When she read
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his work, she saw it as a canvas with infinite possibilities for her to create whatever image she

wanted to, so she could write her own story in the pictures. She didn’t want to just “put images

to text,” she wanted to create a whole world in which this one story takes place. (Corbett) The

medium used for Thunder Boy Jr. is very interesting as well; Morales remodeled an old home in

her home town of Xalapa, Mexico to use as her studio. When the old bricks and roof shingles

were removed from the building, Morales loved the colors and textures of these building

materials so much that she scanned them into her computer to illustrate the book. This gives the

whole book a very 3D appearance, with the textures of the bricks rounding off the characters

against the sharp lines and textures of the background. The illustrations match the candid nature

of the text so well that the publishers were “blown away by the sheer force of these two

enormous talents bursting off the pages” (Corbett).

The way Morales crafts Little Thunder’s family is a complete departure from the family

Alexie originally based his book off of. Alexie’s actual father was a kind man, but also an

alcoholic with a habit of disappearing for multiple days at a time; “He was a loving, gentle man

— He was a man of contradictions.” (Charles) Morales’ version has a father who is constantly

looming over his children, but is still as gentle as a father should be. The whole family is shown

to be a completely normal, functioning group, with the mother hovering around her children, on

a bike for some reason, and the little sister mimicking every move Little Thunder makes. This is

precisely what Alexie wanted; “I searched for my own identity out of desperation, but I didn't

want this kid's search to be desperate” (Corbett). This desire is why the book has another lesson

underneath the overarching identity revelation; trust your parents. Alexie had a good

relationship with his father, and it was because of this good relationship that his father decided to
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go against the millennium established traditions of the Spokane and sent him off to high school.

Obviously not every child is going to need their father to deny their whole cultures so they can

go to school, but it is still important to have them know that their parents really do have their best

interests at heart, and to trust them.

While the main message of the book was to encourage children to find their own identity,

and to treat the mundane as incredible moments, Alexie also wanted to help deal with an issue

that has always been prevalent in literature: there simply isn’t enough representation for people

of color in literature, especially for children. People have definitely tried to solve this problem in

the past, one of which being Ezra Jack Keats, who wrote The Snowy Day in 1962, which made

waves at the time for focusing on an African American child. This book heavily inspired Alexie

to contribute to this effort; he “wanted to replicate that experience, because in literature in

general, there aren’t many Native American children” (Charles). Thunder Boy Jr. is actually a

mixture of several different cultures, with Alexie’s Indian background and Morales’s Latino

background. Morales incorporated a lot of her culture into her illustrations, using traditional folk

drawings as the “band” in Little Thunder’s Pow-Wow demonstration, among other small little

nods at her culture. The very concept of the book itself draws children in to Native American

culture as well; the idea of changing your name so casually is alien to most people, so having a

whole book about deciding your new name gets children to want to learn more about this strange

culture that lets you change your name so casually.

Thunder Boy Jr. is more than a series of silly names and situations for entertaining

children. The book is a message to children urging them to find their own identity and to be

proud of everything that makes them individuals. This book makes a fun and interesting read for
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any age, and can either be read to a group, or given as an independent read once a child has

gotten to a suitable level.

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Works Cited

Caldwell, Naomi. Review of Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie. School Library Journal,
February 1, 2016, p. 58.

Charles Jr, Ron. “With 'Thunder Boy Jr.,' Sherman Alexie hopes to help correct a problem.” The
Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Apr. 2016,
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/with-thunder-boy-jr-sherman-alexie-
hopes-to-help-correct-a-problem/2016/04/18/4ace8b8c-01b3-11e6-9d36-
33d198ea26c5_story.html?utm_term=.278bf3a83647.

Corbett, Sue. "The absolutely true story of Sherman Alexie's first picture book." Publishers
Weekly, 25 Jan. 2016, p. 26+. Literature Resource Center,
ezmw.ez.cwmars.org:4200/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&
u=mlin_c_wachcc&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA442116704&asid=124b632a8481bf766
3b2a1bd2827ea4f. Accessed 19 Oct. 2017.

Corbett, Sue. "Yuyi Morales." Publishers Weekly, vol. 261, no. 29, 21 July 2014, pp. 26-27.

Silvey, Anita. Everything I need to know I learned from a childrens book: life lessons from
notable people from all walks of life. 1st ed., Roaring Brook Press, 2009.