Q&A with Chris Crutcher
Chris Crutcher grew up in Cascade, Idaho, and now lives in Spokane, Washington. He is the critically acclaimed author of six novels and a collection of short stories for teenagers, all chosen as ALA Best Books. In 2000, he was awarded the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award, honoring his lifetime contribution in writing for teens. Drawing on his experience as an athlete, teacher, family therapist, and child protection specialist, he unflinchingly writes about real and often-ignored issues that face teenagers today.
Interview
Q: Why do you write books for teenagers? Do you feel especially attached to this age group?
A: Actually, I consider that I write books about teenagers, for anyone. I do feel especially attached to this group, partly because I so keenly remember my own adolescence, and because I have spent a lot of my life working with people of this age as a therapist, a teacher (of sorts), a coach (of more suspect sorts), so it's familiar territory. I also think it's an important developmental stage in all our lives.
Q: When did you decide to write about the experiences you encountered as a therapist? How did you turn those stories into fiction?
A: I didn't decide consciously. The experiences I encounter as a therapist, the failures and heroism, stimulate my imagination, and I begin with the fiction writer's credo, "What if ..." It all comes from there.
Q: Have you ever had a client whose story was in one of your books come back to you with comments about it, either good or bad?
A: I haven't put a client's story in a book straight out, but I have written stories that make clients think of themselves. Most like it; it seems to give them a voice.
Q: Being an outsider is maybe the toughest thing for a teen to deal with. Can you talk a little about what it means to be an outsider and about how your new book, Whale Talk, addresses it?
A: Being an outsider means not being heard, not having a voice. It means being treated as a second-class citizen, being diminished in the eyes of others. We have all felt this way at one time or another, but some feel it more consistently. Unfortunately, our schools often do not embrace the talents of many of their occupants. Whale Talk is a story about a group of outsiders who rise up and refuse invisibility, and they use an unlikely forum in which to do it. Some of my favorite characters are in this book.
Q: Teenage audiences are actively targeted by marketers of pop culture - in movies, television, music, merchandising. There's even a Teen Choice awards show! Is all this attention healthy for them, or do you see negative effects from the bombardment of information they get?
A: I suppose there are positive and negative effects. I am for anything that makes teens visible in an honest way ... in other words, anything that represents them the way they are, positively or negatively. Sometimes, when teens or people who know teens well aren't consulted for this "merchandising," it can get a bit ridiculous. Everything needs balance.
Q: Your books don't shy away from dealing with dark, often violent, experiences. Is any topic taboo for your books, or do you think teens are too sheltered from dark subjects?
A: I can't think of a subject that is taboo for me, unless it's one I simply don't know anything about. Some teens are too sheltered, and others could use a little shelter. I think the value in books like mine, and a great number by other talented writers, is in the ability to bring dark subjects into the open where they are not so dark, where they can be talked about and considered by teens and adults alike. A lot of things I write about are tougher on adults than they are on teens.
Q: Telling kids the truth about the world - how the innocent suffer, how justice is not always found - must take a lot out of you. Do you sometimes wish you could write fairy tales instead? How do you keep doing it?
A: Naw, I'd never be able to write good fairy tales. A line I used in Ironman, one I gave a secondary character, goes like this: "If you want to see how something works, look at it broken." That's what I think I do a lot of the time: look at broken lives. I am hugely curious about life on this planet, and particularly in this culture. Doing the work I do and writing the stories I write helps satisfy that curiosity; it makes me pay close attention, when, otherwise, I might not. When people say my stories must take a lot out of me, I never know exactly what they mean. In fact, I feel selfish sometimes and, in a strange way, honored to be able to have the vantage point I have and be accepted for writing about it.
Q: You develop your characters so fully and experience their emotional growth with them ... Is it hard to let them go when you are done writing their stories?
A: Not usually. The reason is that I rewrite and rewrite and rewrite, and by the time I'm finished, I'm FINISHED. I might revisit some of them in short stories, but I'm plenty glad to turn them loose.
Q: You've said you weren't much of a reader growing up. Did you feel there weren't books that spoke to the kind of problems you were having? When did you start to read, and what do you read now?
A: I started reading when people stopped telling me to. And yes, I do think my teachers were not giving me stories I could relate to. I've often said I think the only thing worse than being Silas Marner is having to read about him.
One of the reasons I fell in love with To Kill a Mockingbird was that it was real to me. I loved that voice, that town, those people. The injustice clawed at my very soul. Some of my favorite books and authors (off the top of my head) are The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb; Christopher Paul Curtis, Terry Davis, Jerry Spinelli, Judy Blume, Chris Lynch, Lois Lowry, Gary Paulsen in my own genre, to mention only a few ...; anything by Kurt Vonnegut (you can't be my age and uninfluenced by Vonnegut). I loved The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini by Pat Conroy. There are many more.
Q: Your books sometimes strike a nerve with educators, parents, and even some kids. You always respond to their notes, almost inviting commentary, good or bad. Do you think this open dialogue is the way to avoid censorship?
A: I don't know whether or not it avoids censorship, but I believe it can't hurt. I'm aware that I strike some raw nerves and, because of that, believe I need to be available for dialogue with people regarding their responses to my work, be they positive or negative. I've never written anything for shock value only, so I invite dialogue about why I write what I write.
Q: You've had many roles in your life - teacher, therapist, writer, to name a few. Each one evolves into the next. Where do you see yourself heading now?
A: I see myself doing more work with troubled families. I'm working with some men in a drug court program now, and learning so much. Is till work with teenagers from time to time, and with parents who endanger their children. Most of that is pro bono, because I like my work to be outside the state bureaucracy. I also volunteer time on Spokane Child Protection team, which is an advisory group for child protection workers on their toughest cases.
I will write more ... some about teens and some about adults. I certainly feel blessed by the universe, in the sense that my work and my passion are the same.
Q: What do you hope teens will walk away with after reading your books?
A: I hope they will think they've read a good story worthy of consideration. And I guess I hope they've picked up the message that I wrote toward the end of my very first novel, that, in the end, we're responsible for everything we do. I once heard Jesse Jackson, at a high school in Oakland, say "You may not be the one who got you here, but you're the only one who can get yourself out." I love empowerment.
Author Highlight provided by HarperCollins. Author photo by Kelly Halls
You can learn more about Chris Crutcher at his web site: www.chriscrutcher.com/.
Reviews
Athletic Shorts
Chris Crutcher
Chris Crutcher opens this original short story collection with questions from readers about characters from his earlier novels. While many writers report that a character begins and ends in the created fiction, this author confesses his long-term interest in the young adults who only start their development in the pages of his novels. These six stories enable both the author and his familiar readers additional glimpses of compelling characters. This feature may lead to the book's success or its failure. To achieve their fullest poential, these stories rely on familiarity with the characters. Enriching earlier portraits, they promise the capacity to extend and deepen the readers' connection to these characters. However, a reader unacquainted with Running Loose, Stotan!, The Crazy Horse Electric Game, or Chinese Handcuffs, all exceptional novels recognized as ALA Best Books for Young Adults, may be somewhat lost. Or, perhaps these readers will find the stories so involving in their own right that they seek out the preceding novels. As the snappy title and colorful book jacket design cleverly reveal, these "athletic shorts" employ sports as their central setting. Not always the site of conflict, the field, the mat, or the pool are integral to the young men and women discovering the depths of their inner reserves. Physical challenges give them not only tangible goals and achievements, but also empower them to touch the extraordinary within themselves. Tightly constructed and propelled by acute comic timing, "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" stands out in this collection. Angus lives in a "broken home," has homosexual parents of both genders, and struggles with excess weight and peer exclusion. Grasping his expectations and embracing possibilities, he realizes his fantasy with triumph and joy. The less flawlessly woven final story, titled, "In the Time I Get," has moments of inhibitive coincidence. However, it remains hauntingly unforgettable as Louie Banks, conflicted and worried, faces the opportunity to make a genuine difference in the life of a young man dying of AIDS. In between this first and final story, readers learn about Lionel Serbousek's orphaning, the source of his controlled independence, and his desperate untapped need to forgive. "The Telephone Man" explores the intensely personal and generational agents of racism. "The Pin" and "The Other Pin" pit Johnny Rivers and his friend Petey Shropshire against unlikely, uncomfortable wrestling competitors. Johnny must calculate the price of winning against his father; Petey assesses what he gains by losing to Chris Byers, an undefeated, attractive female opponent. A brief introduction prefaces each of the six stories. Crutcher's authorial voice in these forums describes the genesis of each story. Some readers find this style self-consciously jarring and intrusive to the fiction; others welcome its honesty and enjoy tracing the life in the fiction. Young and not-so-young adult readers are sure to find this more overtly comic, though equally vigorous short story collection generously antidotal to Crutcher's gritty realistic novels. 1991, Greenwillow, $13.95 and $6.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Cathryn M. Mercier (The Five Owls, September/October 1991 (Vol. 6, No. 1))
ISBN: 0-688-10816-4
ISBN: 0-440-21390-8
ISBN: 0-06-050783-7
Best Books:
Best Books for Young Adults, 1991 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
Best of the Best Revisited (100 Best Books for Teens), 2001 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
Middle And Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition, 2000 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 1992 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
School Library Journal: Best Books, 1991 ; Cahners; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Fifteenth Edition, 1997 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Sixteenth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Maine Student Book Award, 1992-1993 ; Maine
South Carolina Book Awards, 1994 ; South Carolina
Chinese Handcuffs
Chris Crutcher
There's something gutsy and admirable about an author who gives his lead character the name Dillon Hemingway. It combines America's favorite lone wolf law enforcer with America's high priest of the writing profession, and both were men who used death to live life. Dillon Hemingway encounters the same demons as his namesakes, plus a few more. Through letters, intertwining narratives, flashbacks, and multiple viewpoint scene sequences we learn all about Dillon Hemingway's nearly unnavigable sea of troubles. To accept Dillon Hemingway and his story, Crutcher has obliged his audience to suspend enough disbelief to believe that a high school senior could: 1) be a great athlete but so much an individualist that his only contact with school sports is his job as trainer for the girls' basketball team (he has "paramedical expertise"), 2) be mature enough to witness and cope with the gunshot suicide death of his older brother--a drug-addicted double-amputee former biker who before dying had impregnated a sort of mutual girlfriend, 3) be patient enough to work through his new girlfriend's emotionally entangled life--she's a basketball star who's been sexually abused with stunning regularity by both father and stepfather since she was seven, and 4) be resilient enought to save himself and his family from their own dysfunctionalism. To Crutcher's credit, he more or less pulls this off. This is the kind of book that could open up rather than close off serious discussions about subjects as diverse as sexual abuse, suicide, chemical addiction, sports ethics, and feminism. It could also generate interest in the limits of fiction as a means of discovering or creating truth. 1989, Greenwillow, $11.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Stephen Schwandt (The Five Owls, May/June 1989 (Vol. 3, No. 5))
ISBN: 0-688-08345-5
Best Books:
Best Books for Young Adults, 1990 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
Best of the Best Revisited (100 Best Books for Teens), 2001 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
The Crazy Horse Electric Game
Chris Crutcher
The author captures the playful side of sports and its sense of timing. Without mincing words, he composes harsh realities with images that sometimes take your breath away--and sometimes make you belly-laugh in astonishment and delight. Willie Weaver is a teenage boy who lives in a nurturing family, has loads of friends and is a perfect athlete. And then comes an water-skiing accident which destroys not only his balance and physical prowess, but his family and his sense of self. Willie flees the scene of his unhappiness and struggles to regain his self-respect and some physical capabilities in tough, street-wise Oakland, California. The story is a poignant telling of courage, the struggle to survive life on all levels, and an examination of values once held dear. 1987, Greenwillow/Dell/HarperTempest, $11.95, $4.50 and $6.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer Susie Wilde
ISBN: 0-688-06683-6
ISBN: 0-440-20094-6
Best Books:
Middle And Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition, 2000 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Ironman: A Novel
Chris Crutcher
Crutcher has written another stunning novel of a boy's coming of age. Bo Brewster has been at war with his father most of his life. His actions in school have now placed him in an Anger Management Group, the last resort before expulsion. The kids in this group have severe problems and are wary of sharing personal problems. Slowly their camaraderie develops as does their trust. Bo blows off steam by writing letters, never mailed, to Larry King. The letters are funny and insightful. Mr. Nakatani, the group's teacher/leader, has his own share of personal problems, but he knows his kids and treats them compassionately. The group comes into its own when they decide to support Bo in his participation in a local triathlon competition. Crutcher is a master at defining original characters who are hooked on mastering tough sports. Must reading for boys! 1995, Greenwillow, $16.00 and $4.50. Ages 11 up. Reviewer: Jan Lieberman
ISBN: 0-688-13503-X
ISBN: 0-440-21971-X
Ironman: A Novel
Chris Crutcher
Bo Brewster is a young man determined to stand his ground. He's fought his overbearing, cruel father most of his life. When tangling with a sadistic teacher lands Bo in Mr. Nak's before-school Anger Management class, he faces the scrutiny of a group of hardened, hurting peers. Mr. Nak, an Asian cowboy, is an unconventional teacher who knows how to get issues and angers out in the open. His special brand of support transfers when his students decide they're going to back Bo in the hardest battle of his life, winning a triathlon against opponents financed by his father. Their plans are ingenious and the way they unify their strengths surprises both Bo and readers. Crutcher's books are not for the feint of heart. Situations and characters are tough. Like his hero, Crutcher doesn't back down from telling painful truths. He plunges in courageously as Bo faces his punitive father and dishonest opponents. Like his hero, he triumphs for all young adults whose parents have hurt them "for their own good." Crutcher writes with balance. He melds sports and psychology with fast-moving plots and humor to capture young readers. In the midst of the novel's pain, is gain. Bo triumphs not only in race, but also in personal growth. He learns how to take action, instead of being reactive. He moves beyond his limited vision and prejudices into deeper understanding of people, social systems, and emotions. He falls in love for the first time, sees the depth of a teacher's concern, and comes to grips with his mother's difficulties in nurturing him, while in the throes of an abusive relationship. 1996, Greenwillow/Bantam, $15.00 and $4.50. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
ISBN: 0-688-13503-X
ISBN: 0-440-21971-X
Ironman: A Novel
Chris Crutcher
We come in on seventeen-year-old Bo Brewster, just kicked off the football team by an obdurate coach who tells him he can't control his anger. Bo reaches for excellence by pushing beyond physical limitations in his training for the triathlon. He describes his quest in letters to the only adult he believes will listen--Larry King. Against this athletic struggle, Crutcher counterpoints Bo's struggle to acknowledge his anger towards his father in the before school Anger Management group he must attend each morning. As Bo bonds with the other troubled teenagers in the group, he learns that his own family problems are rather mild. Crutcher has a gift for writing about serious topics with sympathetic humor, while drawing on his own counseling and athletic background for authenticity. 1996 (orig. 1995), Greenwillow, $16.00 and $4.50. Ages 12 up. Reviewer Paula DeMichele
ISBN: 0-688-13503-X
ISBN: 0-440-21971-X
Best Books:
Best of the Best Revisited (100 Best Books for Teens), 2001 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
The Children's Literature Choice List, 1996 ; Children's Literature; United States
Middle And Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition, 2000 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of the Social Studies, 1995 ; National Council for the Social Studies; United States
School Library Journal Book Review Stars, March 1995 ; Cahners; United States
School Library Journal: Best Books for Young Adults, 1995 ; Cahners; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
California Young Reader Medal Winner 1998 Young Adult California
California Young Reader Medal Nominee 1998 Young Adult California
Evergreen Young Adult Book Award Runner Up 1999 Washington
Society of School Librarians International Book Awards Honor 1995 Secondary Language Arts: 7-12 United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Nevada Young Readers' Award, 1997 ; Nevada
South Carolina Book Awards, 1998 ; South Carolina
Tayshas High School Reading List, 1996-1997 ; Texas
Virginia State Young Readers' Award, 1998 ; Virginia
King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography
Chris Crutcher
Teenage fans of Chris Crutcher's books will enjoy this candid autobiography, which looks at his mishaps and adventures as a young boy growing up in Cascade, Idaho. Although his family life wasn't perfect, he seemed to find ways to compensate for his shortcomings and learn important lessons along the way. Whether he was "doing something neat" with his brother or making up book reports about fictitious novels, he always found ways to keep his life interesting. This compelling, and oftentimes hilarious book, presents detailed accounts of past events that shaped Crutcher as an author and as a human being, and describes his motivation and reasoning behind some of his most memorable learning experiences. Now a successful author of young adult novels and a collection of short stories, Crutcher draws from his experiences as a family therapist and child protection advocate to bring important topics to light. His wonderful sense of humor and great storytelling ability help create an absorbing book that is tough to put down. This publication also includes a few black-and-white photographs. 2003, Greenwillow Books, $16.99. Ages 13 up. Reviewer: Debra Briatico (Children's Literature).
If you have read any of Crutcher's books, his autobiography won't be too surprising. It will be especially appealing to guys, because it appears to have a ring of truth--covering all those topics from sexual awakening to pranks at home and school. Chris Crutcher writes with flair but the book seems to have been written as separate vignettes, and when compiled, seems repetitive. He admits that he hates revision and that probably accounts for some of the repeated information. We know by the end of the book that he had a very bad temper, that he was called bawlbaby and grew up to be a therapist in the field of child abuse and neglect. His own childhood shows that he suffered at the hands of his mother, but he also greatly admired his older, stronger, sibling. His father was very rigid man and we learn that not only was his mother a heavy smoker but an alcoholic. That Chris Crutcher turned out to be the writer he is will amaze some readers, especially since he cribbed a whole year's worth of homework assignments from his older brother. The antics in high school, his lack of athletic prowess, the crushes and reflection are all on view. It wasn't easy growing up in a small town in Idaho in the 1960s. While I thought some of the stuff was downright stupid, I know there will be plenty of male appeal. My husband laughed himself silly reading the book. The one question that lingered with me was, what about his sister? She never seemed to be a fully developed character. His mother wasn't either, but you did feel like you got know the male characters. Fans will love seeing how incidents in Chris Crutchers' life ended up in his books. Most librarians will need multiple copies, and don't be surprised if some parent groups try banning this autobiography. Too bad, because it is interesting to learn more about the man who has written so many highly acclaimed books. 2003, Greenwillow/HarperCollins, $16.99. Ages 13 up. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature).
Best Books:
Best Books for Young Adults, 2004; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
Kirkus Book Review Stars, April 1, 2003; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to the Eighth Edition, 2004, 2004; H.W. Wilson; United States
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2004; National Council for the Social Studies; United States
Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, March 3, 2003; Cahners; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Sixteenth Edition, 2003 Supplement, 2003; H.W. Wilson; United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award, 2006; Nominee; Illinois
Garden State Teen Book Awards, 2006; Nominee; Non-Fiction-Grades 6-12; New Jersey
Tayshas High School Reading List, 2004-2005; High School; Texas
Standards of Learning Information
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2004; Individual Development and Identity-IV; Culture-I; Biography; National Council for the Social Studies
ISBN: 0-06-050250-9
ISBN: 0-06-050249-5
Running Loose
Chris Crutcher
Crutcher's sports training has aided his writing. " I always thought that a lot of my great ideas and strengths came from competing. I used to find that place where I'd get in the zone and not get tired, and I feel that when I'm really interested in a conversation or psychological concept. I see myself as a writer in very much the same way I see myself as an athlete. When I get into a good story, then the story will carry itself." Crutcher's talent is evident in Running Loose, in which Louie learns about love, death, sportsmanship, and integrity as well as football. 1983, Greenwillow/Dell/HarperTempest, $17.95, $4.50 and $6.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
ISBN: 0-688-02002-X
ISBN: 0-440-97570-0
ISBN: 0-06-009491-5
Best Books:
Best of the Best Revisited (100 Best Books for Teens), 2001 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
Middle And Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition, 2000 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Fifteenth Edition, 1997 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Sixteenth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
The Sledding Hill
Chris Crutcher
My guess is that this provocative and highly entertaining novel will be THE talk novel of the year as Crutcher takes the fad in authorial intrusion one step further and inserts himself as a character in this metafictional novel about death, grief and censorship. Eddie Proffit loses his dad and best friend to violent accidents in the opening pages. His story is narrated, in Lovely Bones-esque fashion, by the dead friend, Billy, who, if not in Heaven, is in a place free of pain and full of neat tricks he can employ during his ghostly mission to help Eddie overcome sadness so deep he has stopped speaking. Halfway through the book, the plot takes a hairpin turn when book banning "a very different type of silencing" becomes a big issue in Eddie's small Idaho town. Eddie's elective mutism has his mother's minister, the villainous Sanford Tarter, convinced he needs to be baptized. Tarter also teaches English at the high school, but Eddie's enrolled in a class called Really Modern Literature, run by a librarian who prefers books by authors who are still alive. She requires everyone read Warren Peece by the relatively obscure author Chris Crutcher. Naturally, this good book with bad words exercises Tarter, who incites a crusade to rid the library of all Crutcher's irrelevant and only marginally well written books. Plausibility is pushed aside for both entertainment and moralizing. Billy's father loses his job as school janitor for reading the book aloud to students in the boiler room; a student comes out as gay at the public hearing; another admits openly that she cuts herself; "but Eddie's cause" and his decision to finally speak out " is so honorable, these lapses are easily overlooked." 2005, Greenwillow, $15.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Sue Corbett (Miami Herald) (Children's Literature).
After Billy Bartholomew dies, things become very interesting for him. His best friend Eddie, whose father also died around the same time as Billy, becomes involved in a battle to fight censorship at school. Billy follows Eddie through his fight against a conservative Christian organization bent on getting all "offensive" material removed from the school. Eddie teams up with Billy's father to form a plan and also to help each other work through their mutual grief. This story touches on many intense issues and handles all of them well. However, rather than letting the very interesting plot and characters stand alone, Crutcher seems intent on bringing gimmick after gimmick into the story. The use of a dead narrator is different, but it adds little to the plot. Having one of the books in contention be authored by Crutcher himself also seems a bit self-indulgent. Despite these gimmicks, Crutcher succeeds in creating a thought-provoking and touching story. 2005, Greenwillow Books, $15.99 and $16.89. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Amie Rose Rotruck (Children's Literature).
Best Books:
Kirkus Book Review Stars, April 15, 2005; United States
Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, June 6, 2005; Cahners; United States
School Library Journal Book Review Stars, June 2005; Cahners; United States
ISBN: 0-06-050243-6
ISBN: 0-06-050244-4
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Chris Crutcher
After years of fighting humiliation for being overweight, Eric Calhoune, alias Moby, begins swimming in high school. Moby describes his absent, overweight father, "(he's) not a guy who should have gone light on desserts and between meal snacks...(but) a guy who should have spread Glue on his lips before showing his face outside his bedroom each morning." Weight and wit have bonded him in long-term friendship with Sarah Byrnes, a girl who has faced the shame of horrible facial burn scars she's borne since the age of three. Against a swimming backdrop Crutcher places the issues of shame, narrow-mindedness, and abuse. Once the story takes hold you move along at such a rapid clip that by the end you're holding on for dear life. 1993, Greenwillow, $16.00, $4.50 and $6.99. Ages 13 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
ISBN: 0-688-11552-7
ISBN: 0-440-21906-X
ISBN: 0-06-009489-3
Best Books:
Best of the Best Revisited (100 Best Books for Teens), 2001 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
Dealing with Alienation, 2000 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Middle And Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition, 2000 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 1999 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
School Library Journal: Best Books, 1993 ; Cahners; United States
School Library Journal: Best Books for Young Adults, 1993 ; Cahners; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Fifteenth Edition, 1997 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Sixteenth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
California Young Reader Medal Winner 1997 Young Adult California
California Young Reader Medal Nominee 1997 Young Adult California
Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award Winner 1995 United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
South Carolina Book Awards, 1996 ; South Carolina
Tayshas High School Reading List, 1996-1997 ; Texas
Virginia State Young Readers' Award, 1997 ; Virginia
Stotan!
Chris Crutcher
Crutcher is a sports translator, transforming sports into an idiom for life, making the spirit and power of sports understandable to enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts. Sports always figure in his young adult novels. In Stotan, swimmers are "hard guys who feel no pain try it out in the real world." 1986, Greenwillow/Dell, $16.00, $3.99 and $6.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
ISBN: 0-688-05715-2
ISBN: 0-440-20080-6
ISBN: 0-06-009492-3
Whale Talk
Chris Crutcher
It is hard enough living with the name The Tao Jones, but seventeen-year-old T. J. is also partially black, white and Japanese. The only thing more diverse than his gene pool is the swim team he assembles for Cutter High. When Chris, a brain-damaged student, gets hassled by super-jock Mike for "illegally" wearing his dead brother's letter jacket, T. J. recruits "a muscle man, a giant, a chameleon, and a one-legged psychopath" to form a team on which Chris can earn his own jacket. Readers will love this unlikely lineup of misfits who practice at the All Night Fitness pool with their custom-tape mix blaring rock, rap and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." A multi-layered plot includes the history behind T. J.'s personal rage, his foster father's bizarre karmic destiny, and an alumnus who makes his mixed-race daughter scrub away her blackness with a Brillo pad. Some of the details seem unbelievable, but readers will be so anxiously anticipating the not-so-predictable showdown between jocks, coaches, and "Cutter Mermen" they won't care. Once again, Crutcher captures perfectly the emotions and humor of teens facing injustices. His sensitive treatment imparts dignity and depth to kids that are different while telling one whale of an entertaining story. 2001, Greenwillow, $15.95 and $15.89. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Betty Hicks
Whale Talk
Chris Crutcher
Young adults have strong feelings about writers they depend on and admire, writers who live up to their expectations. Chris Crutcher's immediate appeal to young adults is his biting humor. They are also drawn into his novels by the sports themes and troubled heroes who use sports to work out their problems. Psychological and sports underpinnings are again present in his ninth novel, Whale Talk. The hero, T.J. Jones, is an anomaly in the small Washington town where he lives. Most of the residents are white and narrow-minded and T.J. is of Asian-black heritage and his mother, a drug-dependent young woman, named him The Tao. Fortunately, she gave him up to a wonderful couple and T.J. is sure of himself because his adoptive parents have let him work out early traumas. They have challenged him to be all that he can be. To fight the prejudice around him, T.J. builds an impossible swim team made up of misfit boys; among the five are a geek, a retarded boy and an angry young man who stuns competitors when he sheds his false leg before racing. All of these team members have suffered and their stories unite them as strongly as the team itself. T.J. also takes on prejudice by becoming the protector of a young biracial girl who would do anything to win the love of her racist stepfather. At one point, she even scrubs her skin raw with Brillo. T.J. triumphs when he faces his hardest loss, the death of his stepfather. 2001, Greenwillow, $15.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Susie Wilde
Whale Talk
Chris Crutcher
This book is perhaps Crutcher's best. In this ultimate tale of the "underdog" winning, our main character is named "The Tao Jones." Yes, his first name is "The." He calls himself "T.J.". He is a mixed-race young man who was adopted by his "nontraditional" parents after an early childhood of abuse and neglect. His father doesn't work and looks like a motorcycle gang member. His mother is a lawyer who works on child abuse cases. T.J. has never participated in organized athletics even though he has much natural talent. He has often participated in and won city competitions in basketball and other sports. Of course, the coaches in his school are not impressed because he will not play for them. When his favorite teacher asks T.J. to compete in a swim team, however, T.J. agrees on one condition--he will select his teammates. The team created through this agreement is unique, to say the least. It consists of a mentally retarded boy, the fattest boy in school, the boy who is so shy he will not talk, and others. Each of these boys has a past and reasons for wanting to belong, and that is the point of the whole novel. Crutcher expresses this idea creatively and humorously. At first, it is T.J.'s intention only to garner letterman jackets for his teammates--those boys who would never get one otherwise. However, as the story progresses, his ideas change, and he sees the growth and the camaraderie building around him. This is a book that will appeal to the reluctant reader and to those who "do not fit into society" easily. The story is full of humor and yet, there is also much sadness here. The plot includes child abuse, spousal abuse, prejudice, swimming, school, and athletics. There is a depth in the story, and it is filled with memorable characters. However, some of the minor characters are difficult to differentiate. The reader may become confused about who is who. One other negative is a "side story" at the end of the novel that relates to T.J.'s father and really doesn't need to be in the story. On the whole, this is a book to treasure. Please note that as with other Crutcher books, there is much profanity here. Fiction, Highly Recommended. 2001, Greenwillow Books, 220p, $15.89. Grades 9-12. Reviewer: Monica Irwin (Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 14, No. 1))
ISBN: 0-688-18019-1
ISBN: 0-06-029369-1
Best Books:
Best Books for Young Adults, 2002 ; American Library Association-YALSA; United States
The Best Children's Books of the Year, 2002 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States
Capitol Choices, 2001 ; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
Children's Book Sense 76 Picks, Spring/Summer 2001 ; Book Sense 76; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to the Eighth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Parent's Guide to Children's Media, 2001 ; Parent's Guide to Children's Media, Inc.; United States
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2001 ; Cahners; United States
Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, March 2001 ; Cahners; United States
Senior High School Library Catalog, Sixteenth Edition, 2002 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Awards, Honors, Prizes:
ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award Winner 2002 Young Adult Readers United States
State and Provincial Reading Lists:
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Nominees, 2003 ; Maryland
California Young Reader Medal, 2004 ; California
Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, 2002 ; Colorado
Tayshas High School Reading List, 2002 ; Texas
Virginia Young Readers Program, 2003-2004 ; Virginia
Volunteer State Book Award, 2004 ; Tennessee
Whale Talk (recorded Book)
Written by Chris Crutcher
Read by Brian Corrigan
As read by Brian Corrigan, the story of T.J. Jones comes to life. T.J. is an adopted, mixed-race boy being raised by a wonderful couple who love him and understand him. T.J. is a natural athlete but will not participate in an organized sport because he doesn't like being told what to do. However, when his favorite English teacher asks--practically begs--T.J. to lead a swim team, T.J. gives in with one condition. He must be able to select the team. These selections are what make the story real. The listener will recognize someone in each of the swimmers, the coach, or any other character found here. Corrigan makes each character have an individual personality, and it is easy to differentiate between them even though it is just one reader. All the humor of the novel is captured, as well as the drama. The story is so captivating one will not want to stop listening until the last page is read. This audio set would be a good addition to any high school library or public library. It is well produced and should be quite popular. Please note that the book is not for everyone as it discusses mature issues, so the audiotape should be considered the same--for mature audiences. (Unabridged. 4 audiocassettes. 6 hrs. 31 mins.) Fiction, Highly Recommended. 2002, Listening Library, $32.00. Grades High school and up. Reviewer: Monica Irwin (Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 15, No. 1))
ISBN: 0-8072-0709-8
Updated 2005
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