ANNOTATION

Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway.

A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J. is convinced that a varsity letter jacket—unattainable for most, exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as T. J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High—will be an effective carving tool. He's right. He's also wrong.

Still, it's always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen travel to swim meets—piloted by Icko, the permanent resident of All, Night Fitness—soon becomes the cocoon inside which they gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to bloom.

Chris Crutcher is in top form with a cast of characters—adults, children, and teenagers—fighting for dignity in a world where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, where a moment's inattention can bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription for what ails us.

About the AuthorChris 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, heunflinchingly writes about real and often-ignored issues that face teenagers today.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

"Featuring narrator T.J. Jones's darkly ironic appraisal of the high school sports arena, this gripping tale of smalltown prejudice delivers a frank, powerful message about social issues and ills," wrote PW in a starred review. Ages 12-up. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Crutcher's (Running Loose; Ironman) gripping tale of small-town prejudice delivers a frank, powerful message about social issues and ills. Representing one-third of his community's minority population ("I'm black. And Japanese. And white"), narrator T.J. Jones voices a darkly ironic appraisal of the high school sports arena. Despite his natural athletic ability (at 13, he qualified for the Junior Olympics in two swimming events), T.J. has steered away from organized sports until his senior year, when Mr. Simet, a favorite English teacher, implores him to help form a swim team for the school (and thereby help the teacher save his job). T.J. sees an opportunity to get revenge on the establishment and invites outcasts to participate on the team; he ends up with "a representative from each extreme of the educational spectrum, a muscle man, a giant, a chameleon, and a psychopath." As might be expected, he accomplishes his mission: his motley crew of swimmers is despised by more conventional athletes (and coaches). The swimmers face many obstacles, but their dedication to their sport and each other grows stronger with every meet. The gradual unfolding of characters' personal conflicts proves to be as gripping as the evolution of the team's efforts. Through T.J.'s narration, Crutcher offers an unusual yet resonant mixture of black comedy and tragedy that lays bare the superficiality of the high school scene. The book's shocking climax will force readers to re-examine their own values and may cause them to alter their perception of individuals pegged as "losers." Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

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

VOYA

Cartoon character Pogo's words "We have met the enemy and he is us" chillingly describe Crutcher's latest book in which hatred simmers, boils, and burns its characters. Narrator-protagonist T. J. is multiracial—black/Japanese/white—intellectually and athletically gifted, and sarcastic, his words both hilarious and insightful. T. J. eschews school sports until linebacker Mike harasses mentally handicapped Chris for wearing his deceased brother's team jacket, donning an unearned letter and unwittingly affronting those whose letters were merited. When administrators and the football alumni president condoned Mike, T. J. could not. Three years ago, T. J. had been victimized by Rich, the alumni president, and Mike after hearing them brag of a does they had killed and talk of its still-living fawn. Adopted and anti-hunting, T. J. empathized with the orphaned animal, attempting to rescue it before the animal is killed by the men who then attacked T. J. His response to their cruelty is to wear his bloodied clothes to school for a week. His action was encouraged by his attorney mother, whose practice centers on child abuse cases, and his wise father, a victim of a tragic past and now an advocated for the abused. T. J. now cannily forms a swim team under the guidance of his mentor teacher, although the school lacks a pool. His team, which features "one swimmer of color, a representative from each extreme of the educational spectrum, a muscle man, a giant, a chameleon, and a one-legged psychopath" to further infuriate administrators, practices at a commercial pool using unorthodox methods. As the team swims toward their goal of each member receiving a letter in the sport, administratorswork toward denying them. Meanwhile, T. J.'s family receives custody of Rich's biracial child and becomes the target of his malicious and increasingly unstable behavior that stems from bigotry and anger. Readers should beware—although the ending is foreshadowed, it is shocking and horrifying, yet sadly realistic. Here "Whale Talk"—truth and self-knowledge—emerges, demanding characters' self-realization or change while demonstrating that bigotry plus hate will steal one's soul. Curiously this novel borrows heavily from other works—T. J., the team, and their teacher recollect Ironman (Greenwillow, 1995/VOYA June 1995); the swimming renews Stotan! (Greenwillow, 1986/VOYA April 1986); and the football mentality mirrors Running Loose (Dell, 1983/VOYA April 1983). The reliance on earlier themes might disappoint Crutcher fans, but will not deter them from devouring the book. Crutcher is at his darkest but also his funniest here, and the book conveys his most timely message—forgiveness, not revenge. VOYA CODES: 4Q 5P S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Greenwillow, 219p, . Ages 16 to 18. Reviewer: Lisa A. Spiegel SOURCE: VOYA, June 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 2)

Alan Review - Len DeAngelis

The narrator of Whale Talk is a The Tao Jones (his given name and pronounced Dow Jones); he is Black, Japanese, and White. The son of a woman who abandoned him when she got heavily into crack and crank, he grew up as a child filled with rage. Now, thanks to the help of a good therapist and good, loving, ex-hippie adoptive parents, T. J. has turned out to a pretty decent and even-keeled human being. One thing he is not and will never be, though, is a conformist. The Tao Jones (T. J.) is particularly sensitive to injustice; when the high school bully and big deal football star taunts brain-damaged Chris Coughlin, who wears his dead brother's football letter jacket, T. J. seeks revenge. His clever weapon of choice is the creation of a high school swim (despite the fact that his school has no pool) so he can prove that a band of school misfits are capable of winning coveted letter jackets, just like the cocky football players. Chris Crutcher writes in a style that reminds me of Stephen King. Although the violence in the book may be unsettling to some, the work does manage to combine craziness and realism to underscore the impact of coming to terms with differences. The swim team, and the togetherness this band of unlikely characters enjoys, help school outcasts find the true acceptance and friendship they've never had before. Kids read Chris Crutcher (Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Ironman, Athletic Shorts) because his works speak for them; he advocates in a manner that adults should pay attention to, as well. 2001, Greenwillow, 224 pp., Read all 8 "From The Critics" >