Victory by Sherman Alexie (grades 1-3)

The poem “Victory” by Sherman Alexie explores the guilt that the speaker experiences after stealing a pair of basketball shoes. Being too scared to confess, they suffered through the season, only to confess at the end and see his father crying of shame. Alexie is the acclaimed author of many other poems and novels, including The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which won the 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and Reservation Blues, which won the 1996 American Book Award. Many of his works are memoirs of his own experiences as a Spokane-Coeur d'Alene Native American.