I met Chris Crutcher
at a National Council of Teachers of English convention in Orlando
(could have been Anaheim) in the late 1980’s where he was giving a
presentation on Young Adult fiction. He was a trim, handsome,
athletic looking man who was a school counselor and an athlete.
Someone asked him what set young adult fiction aside from other
fiction works. He responded, “The length.” I was intrigued,
bought a couple of his books and devoured them avidly. I was teaching
English at the time and chair of a large English Department in a
Pennsylvania school district. I enjoyed the books, thought them
useful for non-readers and less able students in our district, and
encountered strong resistance to using them as assigned reading when
I suggested it to my colleagues. Since heading in other directions, I
rarely read Young Adult (also called Adolescent Literature) these
days, but when I do, I usually enjoy a good read dealing with the
problems of developing young people whose feelings are close to the
surface and whose experience is limited, to be interesting and
arresting reads while not demanding too much of me. They deal with
the real problems adolescents encounter: popularity, over-weight,
dis-functional family life, adjustment to sexuality, and maturation,
and more. These are all real problems that young people often find it
difficult to discuss with adults. Thus the novels can provide help to
them, or a platform for such discussions. As such, reading them can
be crucial to helping with problems young people are encountering in
their real life in ways that can displace the problem onto others
they encounter in the pages of a book. They can discuss these issues
with other kids or adults who know how to listen in constructive and
useful ways. English teachers who say, “I’m a teacher, not a
therapist” are missing the point as well as a chance to involve
their students in literature which can turn them into lifelong
readers.
Loser’s
Bracket by Chris Crutcher
(Greenwillow Books, 2018, 256
pp, $17.99/9.99) is told in
first person narrative by Annie Boots, both a gifted athlete and
student, whose life has been fractured. Her mother Nancy is
over-weight, an alcoholic and drug abuser. Her sister Sheila a
drug abuser in and out of rehab, an absent father, and Sheila’s
son, who has his own problems. Nancy has been removed from custody,
and Annie has been fostered by an upper middle-class family named
Howard, which has its own problems, but, despite the father’s
controlling needs to make her a star athlete, which she is anyway,
Annie’s in a good situation while
yearning to stay connected to her biological family. The story
revolves around the interactions between and within these two
families and the custody system. Annie describes the situation in
breezy, accessible language with a degree of understanding and
anxious good humor. She comes across as likable and insightful while
trying to deal with her own problems.
In
the guise of a book club held at the local library, and definitely
not in school, Crutcher includes a chapter about the writing process
that, for any student struggling with writing anything contains some
of the best advice I’ve ever read about how to achieve a desired
outcome, no matter what emerges and how surprising it might be.
Annie, carrying all her load of Nancy, her mother, Sheilla, her
sister and Sheila’s missing son, as well as her foster parents and
all the talents and skills she has remains, as she has been
throughout the book, an open conduit to experience with a blockage
for internalizing what she learns. As
the story moves along, the characters learn that unlike in the books
they read to each other, they are the authors of their own stories.
Thus, the novel
moves the characters and the reader toward an understanding of each
of our capabilities for taking charge of our own lives.
The disappearance of her
brother creates dramatic tension, keeping the story moving forward as
does the tension between Annie’s foster parents and within her
biological family.
Chris Crutcher
Chris Crutcher is the critically acclaimed author of twelve novels, an autobiography, and two collections of short stories. He has won three lifetime achievement awards for the body of his work: the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Outstanding Literature for Young Adults, the ALAN Award for a Significant Contribution to Adolescent Literature, and the NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Award. Drawing on his experience as an athlete, teacher, family therapist, and child-protection specialist, he unflinchingly writes about real and often-ignored issues that face teenagers today. He lives in Spokane. (Amazon profile)
Chris
Crutcher writes stories that
address issues not unlike similar issues dealt with in any novel
focused on adults, but revolving around the lives, concerns, and
developmental problems of teenagers. Telling this story in first
person put the reader inside the skin of an adolescent girl facing
and surmounting problems that would be difficult for anyone. He uses
lively dialogue bringing the kids to life while the adults are not
the adult stereotypes often found on television and in lesser books.
These are real people living real lives. Loser’s
Bracket is not just a good
young adult novel, it’s a good novel. I was supplied a digital copy
of the book by the publisher through Edelweiss. I read it using my
Amazon Fire tablet.
Please remember that the links in this post all connect to Amazon.com. If you wish to buy this book, or any other book I review, please consider using my links, which give me a small commission, helping to maintain the blog.
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