Chris Crutcher

A report by Kevin Wilson

Biographical Information

Chris Crutcher is one of the most successful and most frequently banned authors of
realistic fiction in the Young Adult industry, with eleven novels, two short story collections and
one autobiography to his credit (all with HarperCollins/Greenwillow).
Born on July 17, 1946 in Dayton, Ohio to a WWII bomber pilot and a homemaker,
Crutcher grew up in Cascade, Idaho, a logging town north of Boise. He graduated from Eastern
Washington State College – now Eastern Washington University – with a BA in psychology and
sociology. He later earned his teaching credential and taught primary and secondary school in
Washington State and California.
He admits he was a popular teacher, but not a good one. However, once offered the
chance to direct a "last chance" alternative school in Oakland, CA, he thoughtfully served at-risk
K-12 students for almost a decade before returning to the Pacific Northwest to write his first
book.
Running Loose was his debut novel for Greenwillow, published in the early 1980's.
Nine other novels – Stotan!, Chinese Handcuffs, The Crazy Horse Electric Game, The Deep End,
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Ironman, Whale Talk, The Sledding Hill and Deadline – as well
as two short story collections – Athletic Shorts and Angry Management – and his
autobiography, King of the Mild Frontier – followed.
Crutcher's fast-paced fiction – heavily influenced by his vast experience as a child and
family therapist and child protection advocate – is known for its expert balance of comedy and
tragedy, as well as its unflinching honesty and authentic voice.
He is a popular columnist (Voices from the Middle, Family Energy Magazine, the Signal
Journal, iParenting) and public speaker, Crutcher lectures at universities, conferences, libraries,
schools and bookstores across the United States and around the world more than 200 days a year.
Crutcher still works as a therapy consultant and child protection advocate. His life
experiences in rural Idaho, in urban Oakland, in education, and in mental health keep his fiction
rooted in real life. In his personal life, Crutcher enjoys running, swimming, bicycling,
basketball, and music. He speaks more than a hundred times a year at schools, universities, and
conferences across the country and around the world. He currently lives in Spokane, WA.

Information copied and arranged from websites below.

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Websites of Interest

-Official Website: http://www.chriscrutcher.com/index.html

-Publisher’s Info: http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/16156/Chris_Crutcher/index.aspx
-Huffington Post Profile: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-crutcher
-Author Chat Transcript (NYPL): http://www.nypl.org/author-chat-chris-crutcher

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Critiques

1.) Section from Todd Morning’s “Review of Crazy Horse Electric Game” in School Library
Journal. May 1987, Vol. 33 Issue 9:

“If nothing else, Crutcher manages to cram many of the most popular themes of young adult
novels into his book, as Willie faces the crib death of his sister, divorce, drugs, sexual feelings,
physical handicaps, prostitution, child beating, and more. Willie’s present-tense narrative is
annoying, and does not work well for this story that covers several years. The author is best in
the effective description of Willie’s efforts to recover from his injury. But this is the best that can
be said for a novel that often seems contrived.”

2.) Section from John H. Bushman and Kay Parks Bushman article, “Books for the Teenage
Reader: Coping with Harsh Realities: The Novels of Chris Crutcher” in The English Journal.
Vol. 81, No. 3 (Mar., 1992):

“Do these young-adult novels reinforce the myths of the family, religion, institutions, and
patriotism? No, indeed, they do not. Should they? Many argue that young adults are better
served if they are able to read literature that reflects what life is rather than what life ought to be
from an adult's perspective. Young adults are not fools. They know the world in which they live
is not perfect. Many are living lives similar to those depicted in the Crutcher novels. It would be
a disservice to them to provide literature which reflects a world unlike their own. Crutcher's
novels provide realistic situations with which today's students can personally connect. At the
same time, the stories offer choices for young adults to cope with a world in which their myths
have been shattered.”

3.) Section from Betty Greenway article, “Chris Crutcher - Hero or Villain?” in The ALAN
Review. Fall 1994,Volume 22, Number 1:

“As the students I talked to at the English Festival confirmed, Crutcher's novels are also
formulaic, and very predictable. When I asked them to work in small groups and outline a new
Chris Crutcher novel, they had no trouble. One group created The Multiple-Choice Crutcher: a
high school gymnast/golfer/hockey player/wrestler is having a rough time with his
parents/school/coach/girlfriend; his brother/sister/girlfriend/best friend is killed/has a terminal
disease/disappears/is convicted of a capital offense; his brother/sister/girlfriend/best friend is
sexually/physically abused; he comes to terms with his life and wins/loses the big game/match,
play by play.”

Additional reviews of Crutcher’s books can be found on his official website.

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Awards

General Awards:
• 2005 – Catholic Library Association St. Katherine Drexel Award for outstanding contribution to the growth of high
school librarianship.
• 2005 – Intellectual Freedom Award from the National Coalition Against Censorship.
• 2004 – The Writer magazine’s Writers Who Make a Difference Award.
• 2000 – American Library Association Margaret A. Edwards Award, presented by Young Adult – Library Services
Association (YALSA) for lifetime contribution to young adult literature.
• 2000 – Four of his books appear on Booklist's Best 100 Books of the 20th Century.
• 1998 – The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE/SLATE) Intellectual Freedom – Award for advancing
the cause of intellectual freedom.
• 1993 – The ALAN Award from The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents for Significant Contribution to
Adolescent Literature.

Book Specific Awards:

Angry Management
2009 Junior Library Guild Selection

Deadline
2009-2010 Illinois Read for a Lifetime list
2009-2010 South Dakota YARP list

Whale Talk
2005 ALA Popular Paperbacks for YA
2002 ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award
2002 Washington State Book Award
2002 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award
2002 Outstanding Sports Book Award/YA
ALA Best Book for YA

Ironman
ALA Best Book for YA
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
SLJ Best Book
American Bookseller Pick of the List
ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
California Young Reader Medalist
ALA Best of the Best Books for YA
Horn Book Fanfare
Parent's Choice Silver Honor
1996 South Dakota YARP Best Books
2003 Mock Printz Survey for 1996

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

ALA Best Book for YA
SLJ Best Book for YA
American Booksellers Pick of the List
California Young Reader Medalist
1995 Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award
ALA Best of the Best Books for YA
Publisher's Weekly Starred Review
1994 South Dakota YARP Best Books

Athletic Shorts
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
ALA Best Book for YA
ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
SLJ Best Book
SLJ Best of the Best Book
1992 Michigan Library Association Best Young Adult Book

Chinese Handcuffs
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
1991 South Dakota YARP Best Books List

Crazy Horse Electric Game

ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
School Library Journal Best of the Best
SLJ Starred Review
ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Stotan!
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
School Library Journal Best of the Best
SLJ Starred Review
ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Running Loose
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
Booklist Editor's Choice
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
SLJ Best of the Best Book 2000
2003 Mock Printz Survey for 1983
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Annotated Works

1.) Crutcher, Chris. (2009). Angry management. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Like Athletic Shorts, this collection of short stories brings in old characters and settings as well
as new characters and settings. Sports are not always a backdrop, and the primary theme focuses
on anger. Other themes include homophobia, religion, racism, and family relations.

2.) Crutcher, Chris. (2007). Deadline. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Ben Wolf lives in a small town in Idaho where he learns that he has a year to live. It’s his senior
year in high school, he’s seventeen years old, and interested a female classmate named Dallas
Suzuki. He keeps his terminal blood disease a secret from everyone, decides to skip treatment
and pack as much living into his last year as possible. He joins his brother on the football team
to astonishing success, starts dating Dallas, and begins to help the town drunk, Rudy, recuperate.
But as time goes on he starts to wonder about the things he’ll leave behind. What about his
mother and her severe depression? What about his new girlfriend? Can Rudy keep going
without Ben’s support? Can Ben’s coach? And what of the town’s more sinister character
revealed by his Civics project? Other themes include child molestation, teen pregnancy, and
alcoholism.

3.) Crutcher, Chris. (2005). The sledding hill. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

A metafictional novel narrated by the dead Billy Bartholomew, best friend of the protagonist
Eddie Proffit, a young man with ADHD who is compelled to speak without pause until the
deaths of Billy and father cause him to become completely silent. Eddie’s mother goes to a local
church seeking solace, and asks Eddie to come with her, though he is hesitant due to the
Reverend Tarter’s bigotry. The center of the story’s conflict arises through the school’s assigned
novel, Warren Peece by Chris Crutcher. In a fictional portrayal of what often happens with
Crutcher’s novels in real life, Reverend Tarter makes a fervent effort to get the book removed
from the curriculum due to its language and content while Eddie decides to stand against him.

4.) Crutcher, Chris. (2003). King of the mild frontier. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

An autobiography of Crutcher’s life growing up in the small town of Cascade, Idaho. Book
focuses on his experiences as a child and young adult dealing with social isolation, family
trouble, sports, and school.

5.) Crutcher, Chris. (2001). Whale talk. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

The story follows Tao “T.J.” Jones, an adopted Asian-African-European-American teenager in a

small town in Eastern Washington. He goes to a high school that prides itself on physical
achievements, but as he finds out, him and the rest of the swim team are out of luck due to the
lack of a pool nearby. T.J. makes it his mission to prove the rest of the student body wrong by
earning letter jackets for every member of the swim team. On the way he confronts the bullying
of one of his classmates, family trouble, child abuse, and the variety of obstacles and challenges
that his teammates face.

6.) Crutcher, Chris. (1995). Ironman. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Bo Brewster is a young, Caucasian, heterosexual football player in high school who has some
issues with anger management. In as many months he is suspended for poor behavior in class
and is forced to enroll in a morning program for anger management where he encounters misfits
and other athletes who are a lot like him. The story is narrated partially through letters written to
Larry King. Through his sessions in the anger management program and his constant training
routine, he falls in love, grows as a person, and confronts his own homophobia, and his
relationship with his father.

7.) Crutcher, Chris. (1993). Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Sarah Byrnes suffered severe burns when she was a child, leaving scars on her hands and face.
Eric Calhoune grew up on a steady diet of junk food. Their abnormal bodies made them fast
friends until high school when Eric joins the swimming team and begins to lose weight. Fearing
that it will damage his relationship with Sarah Byrnes, he gorges to maintain his weight, which
angers Sarah Byrnes and triggers a flashback to her burns, leaving her in a catatonic state. Eric
makes it his mission to bring Sarah Byrnes back to the waking world, as he confronts her mother,
his classmates, suicide, abortion, violence, and an abusive parent.

8.) Crutcher, Chris. (1991). Athletic shorts. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

A collection of six short stories featuring a variety of characters and settings, some old and some
new. Sports act as the usual backdrop but the real focus is on the struggles of being a young
adult. The film Angus was based off of the entry “A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus
Bethune”.

9.) Crutcher, Chris. (1989). Chinese handcuffs. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Dillon Hemmingway was training for the triathlon when his brother, Preston, suddenly commits
suicide. Dillon is left to figure out what went wrong with the help of his brother’s girlfriend,
Stacy, and his long time friend, athlete, and blossoming love interest Jennifer. On the way they
confront a cycling gang, a single-minded school principal, Jennifer’s father, and issues of rape,
incest, and emotional abuse. The story is told from both Dillon’s and Jennifer’s perspectives.

10.) Crutcher, Chris. (1987). Crazy horse electric game. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Willie Weaver is a Caucasian, heterosexual, sixteen year old star athlete who has grown up in a
relatively quiet town playing baseball. A freak motorcycle accident causes him to lose the ability
to speak and move normally, ending his role as an athlete. Frustrated he runs away to Oakland
and is confronted with gang violence, prostitution, and other challenging situations. He enrolls
in an alternative school, where he slowly regains control of his body. He returns home, only to
find that there’s no place left for him to call home.

11.) Crutcher, Chris. (1986). Stotan!. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

A small but talented team of swimmers are given a challenge in the form of Stotan Week: A four
hour a day physically and emotionally grueling endurance test. The four young men from a
small high school Eastern Washington take the challenge and something unexpected begins.
Beyond the training week they face love, death, abuse, bullying, and friendship.

12.) Crutcher, Chris. (1983). Running loose. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Louie Banks is a high school senior from a small town with everything he could want: The
perfect girlfriend, wheels, good friends, work, and a starting spot on the football team. When his
coach orders him to take out an opposing team’s star player, he refuses and quits the team. The
resulting controversy puts him through extreme turmoil, even as his girlfriend Becky supports his
decision. His world completely falls apart when she dies in a car accident, and after the school’s
track coach eventually brings him around to being healing. Teenage sexuality is a noteworthy
theme.