# Is "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie (illustrated by Ellen Forney) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (illustrated by Ellen Forney) (Little, Brown and Company / Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2007) is identified by: Census claim confirmed, with one correction to the imprint: the title page reads "LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY / New York Boston" — both cities, not New York alone — under the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers imprint. US: Little, Brown and Company, published 12 September 2007 — the true first, uncontested.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Census claim confirmed, with one correction to the imprint: the title page reads "LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY / New York Boston" — both cities, not New York alone — under the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers imprint
- The first printing states "First edition: September 2007" on the copyright page and carries a full number code whose lowest number is 1; later printings drop the low numbers, and dealers cite an eighth printing whose code runs only from 8 to 10, so the lowest surviving digit gives the printing
- Copyright notices read "Copyright © 2007 by Sherman Alexie" and "Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Ellen Forney", with design credited to Kirk Benshoff
- Trade hardcover is ISBN 978-0-316-01368-0 (0-316-01368-4)
- Binding is blue paper-covered boards with the spine title stamped in copper/bronze metallic ink; jacket priced at the front flap
- Forney's cartoon illustrations run throughout
- Publisher imprint reads Little, Brown and Company / Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sherman Alexie (illustrated by Ellen Forney) |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company / Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| Year | 2007 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Census claim confirmed, with one correction to the imprint: the title page reads "LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY / New York Boston" — both… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Census claim confirmed, with one correction to the imprint: the title page reads "LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY / New York Boston" — both cities, not New York alone — under the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers imprint. The first printing states "First edition: September 2007" on the copyright page and carries a full number code whose lowest number is 1; later printings drop the low numbers, and dealers cite an eighth printing whose code runs only from 8 to 10, so the lowest surviving digit gives the printing. Copyright notices read "Copyright © 2007 by Sherman Alexie" and "Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Ellen Forney", with design credited to Kirk Benshoff. Trade hardcover is ISBN 978-0-316-01368-0 (0-316-01368-4). Binding is blue paper-covered boards with the spine title stamped in copper/bronze metallic ink; jacket priced at the front flap. Forney's cartoon illustrations run throughout.

## Is this the true first?
US: Little, Brown and Company, published 12 September 2007 — the true first, uncontested. The book won the 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature in November 2007, two months after publication. No UK or original-language precedence question arises; the book was written in English and the American edition preceded all others.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The National Book Award is the printing tell. The award postdates publication, so a first printing cannot have the citation printed into the jacket artwork — later printings and the current in-print edition carry "National Book Award Winner" as part of the jacket. An applied round gold embossed National Book Award Winner sticker is different: it was stuck onto existing jacket stock and dealers record it on first printings, so a sticker alone does not demote a copy. Also traps: the 2009 paperback (ISBN 0-316-01369-2), which adds a 2009 interview and an Oyate discussion guide, and the 2017 tenth-anniversary edition (ISBN 978-0-316-50404-1) — both "first thus", not first editions.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian* by Sherman Alexie (illustrated by Ellen Forney) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.