Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Crutcher, Chris. (2001). Whale Talk. NY: Greenwillow Books.
ISBN: 0-688-18019-1
Awards: South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee (2003-2004)
ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award (2002)
Washington State Book Award (2002)
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (2002)
TLA Tayshas List

Booksense 76 Pick
ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2002)
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2005)
ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (2004)
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Adoption, Child Abuse, Peer Pressure, Family, Discrimination, Tolerance, Humanity
Genre: Fiction
Annotation: Racially diverse, adopted, and living in Idaho, T.J. rallies together a group of misfit boys to create a high school swim team. Amidst cruel jocks, a racist step dad, victimized women, and violent pasts, the team supports one another as they reach to attain the sought after letterman’s jackets.
Summary: T.J. Jones is part black, part Japanese, and dealing with the rage of being abandoned as a child by a drug addicted mother. Now a teen living with a loving adoptive family, T.J. looks to do right. When he witnesses football star Mike Barbour bullying brain-damaged Chris Coughlin for wearing his dead brother’s letter jacket, T.J. resolves to make sure Chris gets his own letter jacket. Tall and athletic, T.J. has always refused to join any of the all important high school sports, but now he assembles a swim team made up of the schools outsiders and misfits. Originally, T.J.’s plan is simply to get his group of misfits the sacred letter jackets, but the team turns into much more than just a sports team. The long bus rides create the perfect environment for the boys to find a place they belong and are supported. While the swim team gets better and better, the jocks get angrier and the step father of little half-black Heidi taken in by T.J.’s family grows more and more dangerous.
Evaluation: I wanted to read this book for a few reasons, but mainly because I had heard that Crutcher has the ability to write about the cruelties of life with clarity, but also hope. I found this to be very true. Despite the horrors and tragedies that have befallen the characters in this book, they try to make things right. The “bad guys” in the book are pretty one-dimensional, but the point is made that when faced with cruelty, one must still choose to be the better person.