LIFE

      Crutcher grew up in a small town in Idaho, where he played several sports.  He swam in college (Eastern Washington University) and has since participated in triathlons.  In an interview, he described being an athlete in a racially divided college:

     The coaching staff recruited black athletes from the south side of Chicago.  They got some great players but didn’t accept them outside the athletic arena.  The head coach was racist – my conversations with him prove it.  In a time of unrest in the country, black athletes were boycotting the Olympics and Tommy Smith and John Carlos raised their fists from the Olympic podium.  When colleges in our area joined to form a Black Student Union, there were demonstrations and all kinds of ugly racist things were said.  The swim team was the only team on campus that supported the BSU, and we took some big-time heat for it.  The athletic department pulled their offer to hire me as head swim coach for the following year, because of my leanings.  (Shoemaker 94)

      In college, he majored in psychology and minored in sociology; after graduation, he taught social studies in high school and also worked as a therapist/counselor in a mental health facility.  Since 1995, he has worked full time as a writer.

      His novels for young adults frequently have a sports theme but feature young people trying to understand social and personal problems that confront them; he believes the answers to such problems consists of “letting go”: “If I keep asking why and keep not coming up with an answer, I’m either going to get so frustrated, or I;m just going to say ‘There’s no answer – hooray!’ You know – ‘Hooray that there’s no answer because I don’t have one.” (qtd. in SATA 70).

Whale Talk

      On March 7, 2005, the Limestone County (AL) School Board voted 4-3 to remove Whale Talk from all district libraries, overruling the district’s professional superintendent and a review committee.  The official issue was the book’s language, in particular its use of the “F” word.  In February, the book was also challenged in Grand Ledge, MI, where it was assigned as part of an “all-school book” program.  It has not been removed; the principal asked parents to sign a permission slip for their children to read the book, but the leader of the move to ban the book said that was not sufficient.  Earlier, a school district in South Carolina removed it from a required reading list but allowed it to remain on library shelves.  

      Crutcher responded to the Limestone County action on his website:

     Probably the most offensive scene, taken out of context, would be on page 68 and 69 where a four and a half year old mixed race girl is working in a play therapy session, mirroring what her life is like living with a racist stepfather and a mother who won’t protect her.  In the course of her therapy she is taking the role of the offender, yelling out all the names that she herself endures on a daily basis.  Because she is screaming the words, they are in large font, which, I assume, makes them even more offensive to those paging through the book.  The scene read in the context of the story, I believe, is heartbreaking.  It is also true.  It is something I have seen played out by a real four and a half year old mixed race girl in that very situation.  Of course some things have been changed to fit this story, and to mask it from the real event, but it is real, and it is actually milder that what I witnessed in that case, and in hundreds of others. . .

    I hear stories like these and stories far worse on a regular basis.  I am struck by the fact that the kids I hear them from, populate our classrooms.  They do not tell their stories because many of them feel shame because they are treated that way, and they hold the secret; the only real power they have over their situations.  They would rather be angry or depressed than vulnerable, and so they sit, many of them believing they are alone.  Stories like Whale Talk and other, far better stories, let them know they are not alone, while not forcing them to talk about their personal situations at the same time.

      Crutcher also notes that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys in a typical high school classroom will have been sexually mistreated. 

 Issues in the Book

      Racism – What are overt evidences of racism?  What are more subtle indications?  Do you recognize either of these sets of evidence in your ordinary world? TJ’s birth father rejects him because he is mixed race.  He discovers early in life that many kids (or their parents) reject his friendship, and it affects his dating possibilities.  Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour are associated with white supremacist hate groups.  Heidi Marshall suffers from her father’s racism, so much so that she tries to remove her own skin color.

      Athletics – What is/was the role of athletics in your high school experience?  In college?  In the world at large?  Is this appropriate?  TJ is “the best athlete in the history of Cutter High School” (admittedly, this is his own estimation) but has consistently declined to participate in sports.  The coaches think he is a slacker, or at least lacking in school spirit.  What do you think about his choice? 

      Anger management – Various characters have experienced anger with themselves or others at different points in the book: Rich Marshall, Mike Barbour, TJ Jones, TJ’s dad, Andy Mott.  Consider the approaches each takes toward dealing with that anger.  Which approaches seem more productive of solutions to the problems that generate the anger?  How might this apply in the “real” world?

      Masculinity – Are there different concepts of masculinity at play in the people of Cutter, WA?  What are they?  Which seem to you to be the most appropriate models for male behavior?  Consider TJ Jones, his dad, Rich Marshall/Mike Barbour, Dan Hole, Chris Coughlin.

      Abuse – Who are the victims of abuse in this book?  Why are so many people affected?  How does the abuse of one person affect others?

 
Cultural References:

SOURCES: Chris Crutcher’s Authorized Website http://www.aboutcrutcher.com/; Joel Shomaker, “Crutch, Davis, & Will: That Was Them, This Is Now,” VOYA 25: 2 (June 2002) 94-99; Something About the Author 153: 68-74.

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