Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Whale Talk
There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway.
A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J....more
A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J....more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published
April 10th 2001
by Greenwillow Books
(first published April 1st 2001)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Oct 24, 2010
karen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
and-so-this-is-grad-school,
why-yes-i-ya
this is the last of the "banned books" lot. i liked it more than i thought i would, and i think i liked it more than this three-star indicates, but i am somehow unable to give it a four. because this star-rating system is just too scientific and important, right?
i almost didn't read this one. i read what it was about - an all-boy swim team called the mermen who are social misfits but who bond together on their long bus trips where they share their secrets and learn to trust one another and learn...more
i almost didn't read this one. i read what it was about - an all-boy swim team called the mermen who are social misfits but who bond together on their long bus trips where they share their secrets and learn to trust one another and learn...more
Feb 19, 2008
Jessica Abarquez
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
multicultural-lit
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Wonderful! 4.5 stars!
Maybe it's the person inside me who hates athletics, but loves inspiring athletic movies? I mean, who doesn't get weepy when watching Remember the Titans, or who isn't a shameless Varsity Blues fan! Rudy? Radio? MIGHTY DUCKS! Bad News Bears... I could go on and on, I love them so much. I love them almost as much as dance movies. Bring on the 'Not another Sports Movie' parody! I'll be there, because I've just about seen 'em all! I mean, they're so much fun and they feel so go...more
Maybe it's the person inside me who hates athletics, but loves inspiring athletic movies? I mean, who doesn't get weepy when watching Remember the Titans, or who isn't a shameless Varsity Blues fan! Rudy? Radio? MIGHTY DUCKS! Bad News Bears... I could go on and on, I love them so much. I love them almost as much as dance movies. Bring on the 'Not another Sports Movie' parody! I'll be there, because I've just about seen 'em all! I mean, they're so much fun and they feel so go...more
This book makes my makes my month after a series of bore-me-brainless, I’ve-read-you-before reads. WHALE TALK is most definitely a favorite. It’s sweet and deep; smart and funny… and then ends on this ache-y note. I love love love so many things in it:
First,that it’s all about the underdog, because those? There were many here. Most of them have a sadness to share, but despite that (because of that?) there’s this bond that’s built up slowly… so, I found that a sweet progression. Second, that th...more
First,that it’s all about the underdog, because those? There were many here. Most of them have a sadness to share, but despite that (because of that?) there’s this bond that’s built up slowly… so, I found that a sweet progression. Second, that th...more
While this book includes great issues that no doubt need to be addressed in young adult literature, I felt it lacked something more important: a believable and relatable main character. We felt that TJ was painted as an aloof but successful and sometimes over-zealous youth but came off more like a pretentious snob. What he did for the lesser characters in the novel was generous but his motives were a little off-putting and he spoke too highly of himself frequently. The rest of the characters see...more
Just finished this book awesome book. The story is heart wrenching. It took me a while - 50 pages - to get into it, but it came highly recommended. My sophomores will read this during this school year. It explores many issues like child abuse, abuse of women and violence towards others. The setting is a high school where there is always abuse.
There is a line in the book that has become a part of me. But I don't have the book right now - so I can't add it yet in the text form. The line is spoken...more
There is a line in the book that has become a part of me. But I don't have the book right now - so I can't add it yet in the text form. The line is spoken...more
Apr 26, 2013
Heidi (awesome group member)
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ya-that-rocks
What a great book about the power of friendship and the human spirit. It is rare to find smart and honest YA books out there about real everyday issues that are often overlooked or not talked about. I loved the mix of humor and truth in this book and found myself really rooting for this rag tag group of young men. TJ is an awesome protagonist and his father is quite possibly one of the best YA fathers I have ever met. (view spoiler)...more
An adopted black high school senior in very white central Washington brings together a crew of outcasts for a swim team. Good considering the rather ho-hum premise. The main character is believable and a strong narrator, the plot is interesting and well-paced. Good for a reluctant teen reader, especially one with an interest in sports. Some language, not too bad. An interesting look at racism, sports obsession, and what makes a family. Also good in that the adoption thing is presented more as a...more
A good, thought-provoking, quick read. There is one event in this book that I swear will haunt me forever...but I wont spoil it...
Jul 19, 2008
Daria
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
all-time-fave
Another of my fave books! T.J. Jones is an adopted, racially-mixed senior living in a small town in Washington. Though very athletically gifted, he refuses to join any organized school sports because of the almost "God-like" treatment received by the jocks. When his favorite English teacher Mr. Simet ask T.J. to join a swim team (despite the fact that the school does not have a pool), T.J. sees an opportunity to infuriate the jocks by putting together a motley group of misfit swimmers. T.J. lear...more
This is one of those books that sticks with you, characters and circumstances refusing to turn loose of your thoughts and emotions months after you stop reading about them. Things start out innocently when super-talented (athletically and intellectually) T.J. agrees to bail out a favorite teacher by throwing together a swim team. He also sees the team as a way to give the nasty jock contingent at his school the finger by recruiting misfits and helping them to earn letter jackets.
T.J.'s got plen...more
T.J.'s got plen...more
Building a swim team from the most unlikely candidates found in his high school TJ Jones discovers that sometimes what you learn along the journey is greater than any initial plans you had when choosing your destination. Crutcher brings together a cast of characters that could easily become typecast except that he understands how to craft authentic characters who experience real situations and problem and handle them in a way that rings true. Even better - the audience learns something without f...more
Whale Talk is a is narrated by The Tao "T.J." Jones, an adopted Asian/African American teenager. The story takes place in Cutter High School, which prides itself heavily on the physical achievements of its students, and thrives on the winnings of the football and basketball teams. T.J, tired of the bulling that goes on in his school, gets together six fellow outcasts to form a swim team.
This book was ok. I liked that it was not just about T,J's racial struggle as a minority, but also about outca...more
This book was ok. I liked that it was not just about T,J's racial struggle as a minority, but also about outca...more
*Susan Hart
*Crutcher, C. (2001). Whale Talk. New York: Greenwillow Books.
*Sports
*Selected from YALSA's Best of the Best List
*Cart, M. (2005). Yalsa Best Of The Best: The 100 Best Books for Young Adults. Young Adult Library Services, 4(1), 45-50.
*T.J. Jones is a self-avowed smart ass. To make matters more interesting, he also has a refined sense of justice, is an excellent athlete who refuses to play organized sports (to the extreme ire of the school coaches and the football team) and is one of t...more
*Crutcher, C. (2001). Whale Talk. New York: Greenwillow Books.
*Sports
*Selected from YALSA's Best of the Best List
*Cart, M. (2005). Yalsa Best Of The Best: The 100 Best Books for Young Adults. Young Adult Library Services, 4(1), 45-50.
*T.J. Jones is a self-avowed smart ass. To make matters more interesting, he also has a refined sense of justice, is an excellent athlete who refuses to play organized sports (to the extreme ire of the school coaches and the football team) and is one of t...more
This book follows The Tao (Jones), a Japanese-African-American teenager with the build and drive to play sports. Unfortunately for the teams, he is uninterested in joining what he believes is a group of muscle-headed jerks. He is approached by a teacher who wants to start a swim team and make Jones the captain. Jones creates a team of misfits worthy of The Breakfast Club including: a “one-legged psycho”, a fat kid, a brainiac, and a boy whose brain just doesn’t work right. None of his teammates...more
I really enjoyed this book. Because it was told from T.J., the main character's, perspective, it was an easy read and very enjoyable.
This book follows the story of T.J. who is a very athletic teen at Cuttler High School, who doesn't want to play sports. He feels as if there is an abnormal amount of favor for athletes, and he doesn't like it. He is convinced to join the swim team by his English teacher, who is his favorite teacher; his name is Mr. Simet. He wants to coach swimming so he won't hav...more
This book follows the story of T.J. who is a very athletic teen at Cuttler High School, who doesn't want to play sports. He feels as if there is an abnormal amount of favor for athletes, and he doesn't like it. He is convinced to join the swim team by his English teacher, who is his favorite teacher; his name is Mr. Simet. He wants to coach swimming so he won't hav...more
After reading the Book Whale Talk from the Author Chris Crutcher I was actually be amazed at the entire contents of this amazing story, and to everything this history, criticizes about us and our society. It so happened that after reading the book I have the great pleasure to meet in person the author and to hear him talk about the novel in a speech given at my school, in which I discovered with amazement and a bit of sadness that a of the saddest events in the book are based on real life.
This n...more
This n...more
*3.5 stars*
Racism, and more generally, the struggle to belong when you are different, is a major theme in Whale Talk. One of the most painful scenes in the book is when a five-year old child one of the three ‘mixed-race’ people in the entire town, yells racial slurs at herself and scrubs her arms with a bristle brush because, “She thinks if she can wash [the black]off, her daddy will love her” (p. 69). The years of pain and destructive mind training are so evident in those few words.
Our protago...more
Racism, and more generally, the struggle to belong when you are different, is a major theme in Whale Talk. One of the most painful scenes in the book is when a five-year old child one of the three ‘mixed-race’ people in the entire town, yells racial slurs at herself and scrubs her arms with a bristle brush because, “She thinks if she can wash [the black]off, her daddy will love her” (p. 69). The years of pain and destructive mind training are so evident in those few words.
Our protago...more
Dec 17, 2012
Krista Stevens
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
boys,
young-adult
It's amazing how much Crutcher can wrap into one rather small book (my reluctant readers don't judge a book by its cover so much as by its size. Before they even know how many pages there are, they've already judged it). They should postpone their judgment until they read this. T.J. doesn't really fit into his northwest high school - he's a talented athletic misfit who thumbs his nose at organized sports, but he gathers a group of other misfits (think Breakfast Club minus the girls) to start a s...more
I would recommend the book Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher because of it’s interesting and engaging way of teaching lessons to the readers. Through the challenges T.J. faces, such as violence, abuse, and racism, I have learned many valuable things.
Throughout the entire novel there is major conflict between T.J., who is completely against high school sports teams, and Mike Barbour, Cutter Highs most racist football jock. It is obvious that close to nothing could resolve the issues they have with on...more
Throughout the entire novel there is major conflict between T.J., who is completely against high school sports teams, and Mike Barbour, Cutter Highs most racist football jock. It is obvious that close to nothing could resolve the issues they have with on...more
What can I say about Whale Talk that hasn't already been said? It reminds me of a toaster, yeah that probably hasn't been said before.
Whale Talk is about a High School student named T.J and his coach wants to make a swim team and have T.J lead the team. So T.J has to round up a swim team and it turns out the team is a group of misfits. It's a true underdog story that shows that training and hard work you can win.
Anyway I didn't really like Whale Talk I gave it 1/5 the reason I gave it such a...more
Whale Talk is about a High School student named T.J and his coach wants to make a swim team and have T.J lead the team. So T.J has to round up a swim team and it turns out the team is a group of misfits. It's a true underdog story that shows that training and hard work you can win.
Anyway I didn't really like Whale Talk I gave it 1/5 the reason I gave it such a...more
I never expected to come out of a book labeled Sports–Fiction having cried. I’ve never played an organized sport in my life and have spent very little time watching them. My sister used to swim but those are vague memories so I did occasionally ask questions of my ex-swimmer boyfriend, but though this book is set in high school sports there is a hell of a lot more too it. The fact that this book is banned for racism and offensive language makes me to be absolutely honest livid.
TJ is a Caucasian/...more
TJ is a Caucasian/...more
T.J. Jones is tall, handsome, intelligent, athletically gifted, adopted, and angry. He despises how his high school honors athletics over anything else, and refuses to take part in any organized team, much to the frustration of the coaches. Fed up by the jocks in his school and the Athletic Council who award varsity letterman's jackets like the Congressional Medal of Honor, T.J., along with his English teacher Mr. Simet, organize a swim team and recruit a group of misfits and outcasts that will...more
This was absolutely fantastic. The narration seemed a little older and wiser than a high school senior boy at times, but that is pretty much my only complaint. Well, ok, and the ending was a wee bit too perfect, but that's where the flaws end.
For myriad, complicated reasons, TJ Jones assembles a rag-tag swim team for the first time in his high school's career, made up of some of the biggest outcasts. Throw in his dad's insanely awful personal history, his own demons, a therapist, their foster f...more
For myriad, complicated reasons, TJ Jones assembles a rag-tag swim team for the first time in his high school's career, made up of some of the biggest outcasts. Throw in his dad's insanely awful personal history, his own demons, a therapist, their foster f...more
Sam Desmarais
ELA G
Book Review
In English class, we have been reading “banned books.” And I would definitely recommend my book Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher; mainly because of the lessons it taught me. I have learned to stand up for what I believe in through reading this line “But the deer wouldn’t, move so I through myself over the baby deer in hope they would not shoot, and when Wyberg and Barbour tried to pull me off I held on like a bulldogger.” To me, this is standing up for what he believes...more
ELA G
Book Review
In English class, we have been reading “banned books.” And I would definitely recommend my book Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher; mainly because of the lessons it taught me. I have learned to stand up for what I believe in through reading this line “But the deer wouldn’t, move so I through myself over the baby deer in hope they would not shoot, and when Wyberg and Barbour tried to pull me off I held on like a bulldogger.” To me, this is standing up for what he believes...more
I read Whale talk, by Chris Crutcher. The plot revolves around sports, even if you aren’t that interested in sports this book is still a page turner and I recommend it. I liked this book because it contains life lessons that you don’t realize until you see them in the text. The book is about a school that surrounds around sports and a kid named TJ Jones and how he stands up and brings together the “misfits”, aka the kids that can’t make any team and fit in .This book is also good because it’s ea...more
I thought that this book was good when it came to the plot,but the story was sort of slow. I loved the characters, but the story was one of those books that is very easy to put down. It was not until about half way that i actually started to get into the book. There are allot of sad parts but the main character T.J. provides the up beat in the story. Sure, he has his fare share of sadness in the book, but what he is trying to do throughout the book keeps the reader hopeful.
T.J. is a part black,...more
T.J. is a part black,...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Oct 04, 2011
Maximillian Jackson
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
english-412
When you start reading Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher, you might take the wonderful humor and cynicism of the main character, T.J., as a sign that this is going to be the usual coming-of-age, snarky-teen-protagonist tale common in YAL. The guy is named “The Tao Jones” for Pete’s sake; the jokes practically write themselves. However, some readers might glance over the very heavy and heart-wrenching back-story of T.J. because of his humor, but his tragedy is a better foreshadowing of the themes of t...more
Summary: This is a wonderful book about a young man, TJ Jones, a nonconformist kind of guy and the events of a year in high school. He is a talented swimmer and a gifted athlete who doesn't want to paly sports for the school. TJ has more issues that most teenagers with his black-white-japanese- American heritage and drug addict birth mother. He lives with his adopted parents, who are wonderful and loving. Tj decides to get a swim team together at the school after he seeing a varsity letter jacke...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is literature the human equivalent of Whale Talk? | 3 | 4 | Feb 15, 2013 06:47pm |
Chris Crutcher's writing is controversial, and has been frequently challenged and even banned by individuals who want to censor his books by removing them from libraries and classrooms. Running Loose and Athletic Shorts were on the ALA's top 100 list of most frequently challenged books for 1990-2000. His books generally feature teens coping with serious problems, including abusive parents, racial...more
More about Chris Crutcher...
Share This Book
5 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“...racist thought and action says far more about the person they come from than the person they are directed at.”
—
67 people liked it
“I walk outside and scream at the top of my lungs, and it maybe travels two blocks. A whale unleashes his cry, and it travels hundreds or even thousands of miles. Every whale in the ocean will at one time or another run into that song. And I figure whales probably don't edit. If they think it, they say it...Whale talk is the truth, and in a very short period of time, if you're a whale, you know exactly what it is to be you.”
—
30 people liked it
More quotes…
Jan 03, 2011 08:33am
Jan 03, 2011 08:45am