Plot Summary
Bo Brewster is an athletic kid growing up in rural eastern Washington with a distant and demanding father. When Bo tells off his English teacher/ former football coach in class, he gets sent to an anger management class which further enrages his father who is hell-bent on raising a son who respects authority. In attending the anger management class, Bo joins a band of misfits who terrify the majority of the school population. The class is taught by Mr. Nak, a Japanese cowboy with a past who is able to reach these misfits in ways that no-one ever has. Bo’s father berates his son for quitting the football team and losing his temper, and Bo sets to prove himself to his father by preparing for an Ironman competition, the Yukon Jack Eastern Washington Invitational. As he prepares for the triathalon, Bo battles the emotional obstacles presented by his father and former coach but finds support along the way from some unlikely characters, including a new girlfriend who is in training to become an American Gladiator.
Critical Evaluation
The narration alternates between a first person narrative in which Bo writes letters to the talk show host Larry King and a third person narrative told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. The first person accounts are achingly honest as Bo works out his feelings towards his rigid and intolerant father, abusive coach, and supportive mentor from whom Bo distances himself when he learns a secret about his mentor’s identity. Bo makes mistakes and at times falls into the same patterns as his reviled father, and we hear him sorting through all of this in his journal entries to “Larry.” In the bird’s eye view narration, we get a bigger picture of the many characters that populate the novel, including the members of the before-school anger management class and their calm, fearless leader Mr. Nak. It is through these chapters that we learn the stories behinds these teenagers with violent or disruptive tendencies and come to appreciate one of the novel’s main themes: the power of mercy and forgiveness.
Reader’s Annotation
After telling off his former coach and English teacher in class, Bo gets sent to his school’s anger management class which supposedly is full of future serial killers. Is it punishment--or a gift?
Information about the Author
According to the back of the novel, “Christ Crutcher was raised in Cascade, Idaho. He holds a B.A. in sociology and psychology and a teaching credential from Eastern Washington State College. He spent five years as director of an alternative school for children from kindergarten through high school in Oakland, California. He has been a child and family therapist at the Spokane Community Mental Health Center and is currently chairperson for the Spokane Child Protection team. In his spare time he runs, plays what he calls “old man” basketball, and trains for triathlons, though he says he retains enough brain cells to actually participate in very few.
Chris Crutcher’s other novels include Chinese Handcuffs, The Crazy Horse Electric Game, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Stotan! and Running Loose, each of which was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, as was Athletic Shorts, a collection of short stories featuring many of the characters from his novels. He was recently awarded the National Council of Teachers of English/ ALAN Award for outstanding Contributions to Young Adult Literature. He lives in Spokane, WA.”
Genre
Realistic Fiction
Curriculum Ties
This would be an excellent book to include as a literature circle option for an English/ Health interdisciplinary unit on unit on mental health and wellness.
Booktalking Ideas
Recapture the moment in which Bo’s coach calls him out in class, gets in his face, and demands that Bo “identify his gender” in front of the whole class. Bo calls his teacher an a--hole and gets sent to an anger management class as a result. Was this a punishment or a gift?
Reading Level
Ages 14+
Challenge Issues
The novel could be challenged on the grounds of its language and challenges to adult authority. If the book were challenged, I would turn to ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.
Why Included?
I had heard many trusted sources reference Chris Crutcher novels, and so I wanted to give the author a try. Also, I wanted to read more books that have to do with sports and endurance and was told that Crutcher’s novels would be a great place to start.
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