Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk. New York, NY: Greenwillow. 2001. ISBN:0-06-029369-1

Summary

At Cutter High School, letterman's jackets are taken seriously. The jocks take them so seriously that they threaten Chris, a mentally disabled student, when he wears his older brother's jacket to school. So T.J. hatches a plan to get Chris his own letterman's jacket. T.J., Chris, and other misfits form a swim team. Things escalate between T.J. and the other jocks, in particular Barbour and Rich, who isn't actually a student but who nevertheless hangs around reliving his glory days and coaching. Even worse, T.J. learns that Rich is abusing his stepdaughter Heidi because she is mixed race. Since T.J. is also mixed race, Heidi's therapist invites T.J. to talk to her. As Heidi's mother fails to protect her from Rich, social services sends Heidi to live with T.J.'s family. Now Rich feels that T.J. is trying to take his family away from him and begins stalking him. T.J. struggles to stand up for the abused, but his own anger may make the situation even more dangerous.

Evaluation

The racism and abuse in this story is almost too much for one small town. Crutcher ably describes not only the terrible abuses suffered by children but also the effects of abuse. For the boys, many of them become abusive towards their partners and many of the girls seek out abusive partners. Contrasted with the sadness of the abuse is the success of the swim team. In particular, Chris is a lovable character, who although somewhat awkward and slow is a mature and deep person. Crutcher takes a variety of characters and treats them all respectfully. As usual, Crutcher's style is easy to and pleasant to read.

Reader's
Annotation

T.J. wouldn't join a team, normally, but a team in which all of the school's misfits could earn a letterman's jacket? That's too good to pass up. For T.J., the look on the football team's faces as the letterman's jacket is worn proudly by the angry Mott, the geeky Dan and the awkward Chris is worth overcoming his aversion to teams. But it also brings to a head a festering animosity with the jocks, which could turn dangerous.

Bibliotherapuetic Usefulness

Sufferers from abuse could learn techniques for healing. Also, explains some possible psychological reasons for abusing, and staying in abusive relationships. Dealing with death.

Why I read it:

Crutcher is a well received author whose books are generally targeted to boys. An interesting demographic.