false 49746 10 T. J. Jones is black, Japanese, and white; his given name is The Tao (honest!), and he's the son of a woman who abandoned him when she got heavily into crack and crank. As a child he was full of rage, but now as a senior in high school he's pretty much overcome all that. With the help of a good therapist and his decent, loving, ex-hippie adoptive parents, he's not only fairly even-keeled, he has turned out to be smart and funny. <p> Injustice, however, still fills him with fury. So when big-deal football star Mike Barbour bullies brain-damaged Chris Coughlin for wearing his dead brother's letter jacket, T.J. hatches a scheme for revenge. He assembles a swim team (in a school with no pool) made up of the most outrageous outsiders and misfits he can find and extracts a conditional promise of those sacred letter jackets from the coach. After weeks of dedicated practice at the All Night Fitness pool, the seven mermen get good enough not to embarrass themselves in competition. The really important thing, though, turns out to be the long bus rides to meets, a safe place to share the hurts that have made them who they are. Meanwhile, T.J.'s father, who has taken in a battered little girl to ease his lifelong guilt over his role in the accidental death of a baby, tangles with another bully--her stepfather--and his growing murderous rage. <p> Chris Crutcher, therapist and author of seven prize-winning young adult books, here gives his many fans another wise and compassionate story full of the intensity of athletic competition and hair-raising incidents of child abuse. (Ages 12 and older) <I>--Patty Campbell</I> 2291193 2001 Whale Talk total:1034|5:392|4:385|3:194|2:49|1:14| 1034 4194 1319 202 5 3 false true Tue Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 05 12:14:34 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 19 12:14:01 -0800 2008 This novel blew me away. I could not imagine a group of guys who have had more tragedy happen in their lives. Each guy in this book had struggles they had to deal with and sometimes readers forget that men have problems too. It is easier to read stories about women...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 12:32:21 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 15:50:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 14:29:38 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 20 23:13:54 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jul 01 06:33:37 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 14:44:34 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Dec 20 16:09:28 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 16:20:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Apr 27 16:17:56 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 16:25:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Apr 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 06:18:50 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 06:33:16 -0700 2009 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, but this one was even better. The narrator, T.J., is a really interesting character, with a great sense of humor and a strong sense of honor and a lot of rage inside. Crutcher's background working...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Apr 14 19:45:59 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 15:21:01 -0700 2009
VOYA's Book Review Codes ~ Quality 5Q; Popularity 4P; Grade Level Interest S

Developmental Assets: 1, 2, 11, 14, 18, 20, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35

Initially upon beginning to read this book, one thinks of it as a story about the struggles a ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 14 10:33:23 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 10:33:23 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 07:58:11 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 15:02:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat May 23 01:20:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 29 22:31:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Sun Feb 03 18:14:52 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 18:19:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 14:04:08 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 21:29:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Aug 19 21:02:26 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 20 08:13:20 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Wed Jan 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 14:07:06 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 06:43:59 -0800 2009 1
At certain parts, I found T.J. a little arrogant for my liking, but he's a popular kid i...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun May 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 08:02:50 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 09:11:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 05 21:38:46 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 21:45:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 11:58:14 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 12:02:05 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jun 18 10:06:27 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 10:32:09 -0700 2009 1
well, whale talk was a little confusing in the middle but towards the end i finally got it and... i cried. i love t.j he's sooo strong! i hate it when a book has wimpy characters! but t.j was like a brick wall. if someone made fun of him for being... diffre...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 13:12:33 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 13:21:00 -0700 2009 2
It starts out feeling like...more...]]>