Book Cover image from Amazon.com
WHALE TALK
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crutcher, Chris. 2001. WHALE TALK. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 0688180191.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
T.J. Jones is a rarity in his high school. Not only is he the only multiracial student in his Spokane, Washington high school, he is one of the few true athletes who has no desire to be part of a traditional athletic team or to earn a letter jacket. As he watches some of the school jocks belittle those less fortunate, he is asked to help build a school swim team at Cutter High School. The Merman team is formed complete with its own unusual Magnificent seven: T.J., “the adopted athlete”, Chris Laughlin, a Special Ed student trying to come to terms with the death of his older brother, Daniel Hole, “the genius”, Tay-Roy, “the body”, Simon Deloy, the “fat “kid, Jackie Cray, the invisible one, and Andy Mott, the one-legged swimmer whose true injuries are even worse. Although they have no swimming pool on campus, this band of misfits works together at the all night swim pool with the help of a homeless man to bring pride, and letter jackets, to their team.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This story is set in Spokane, Washington, and this is imperative to the story because of the racism in the area. Without this, WHALE SONG would not be as powerful.
The story begins at the ending…TJ has graduated and it is at the end of the summer. He is looking back to the year before and the events of his life that led up to a most traumatic event in his life. While this story is about a misfit swim team overcoming prejudice, it is also a redemption story…one life lost so another can be saved. An unlikely hero, burdened with a horrific secret from his past, losing his own life to save another, and finally being able to forgive himself.
Crutcher’s characterization of TJ’s adopted father is one of a gentle giant who accidentally killed an eighteen month old child in a freak trucking incident. This caused much pain for Mr. Jones since the mother of the child he killed was a woman who he had fallen in love with, and guilt-ridden, they part, never to see each other again. Mr. Jones becomes an advocate for all children, and the abused TJ becomes his son. He has married a lawyer, who mostly works on child abuse cases, and the two of them raise T.J.
Into their lives comes Heidi, a mixed race child who is so hated by her adopted, white father that she tries to scrub the color off of herself so that she will be accepted by him. Heidi comes to live with the Jones family after her father abuses her, her mother, and twin baby brothers one too many times. Rich Marshall is the former athlete who has graduated and makes life miserable for the Jones, his wife, and children. His hatred causes the most explosive moment in the book, in which the theme of forgiveness rings true. “Not one moment for revenge”. This book shows that by using “well-constructed characters and quick pacing to examine how the sometimes cruel and abusive circumstances of life affect every link in the human chain, and a heartwrenching series of plot twists leads to an end in which goodness at least partially prevails” (Booklist).
4. AWARDS AND HONORS
2002 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
2001 Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books
5. REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Publisher's Weekly: "Crutcher's 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."
From VOYA: "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."
No comments:
Post a Comment