Whale Talk

"Allison Freeman<br/><br/>APA Citation:<br/><br/>Crutcher, C. (2002). <i>Whale Talk</i>. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf.<br/><br/>Genre: Sports, Realistic Fiction<br/><br/>Format: Print<br/><br/>Selection Process: School Library Journal review<br/><br/>Adams, L. (2001). Whale Talk. <i>Horn Book Magazine, 77</i>(3), 320-321.<br/><br/>Review:<br/><br/>T. J. (The Tao) Jones is an adopted, talented mixed-race athlete living in a small town in the Northwest. He attends high school at Cutter High School where most of the athletes are arrogant and more concerned with winning then athleticism, including ex-football player Rich Marshall. This is precisely why T. J. has avoided joining any of the organized sports teams at Cutter until Mr. Simet, T. J.’s English teacher, asks him to help him start a swimming team. T. J. was a skilled swimmer when he was younger and is the only one that can swim let alone be able to help him start and to train a team of new swimmers. T. J. accepts only if by the end of the season that all of the swimmers earn a letterman jacket. Mr. Simet and T. J. begin recruiting and gather a team of ragtag outsiders. T. J. recruits Chris Coughlin who is mentally challenged and bullied daily by football players such as Mike Barbour (football star) because he wears his dead brothers letterman jacket. He wants to help Chris win his own jacket and show the Mike Barbour’s and Rich Marshall’s of the world what he is capable of. The other guys recruited to the team include Dan Hole (intelligent smart aleck), Tay-Roy Kibble (gentle giant bodybuilder extraordinaire), Andy Mott (paraplegic psychopath), Jackie Craig (quiet loner) and Simon Delong (overweight nice guy). <br/><br/>Through long, arduous practices to learn how to swim at the local All Night Fitness center (Cutter doesn’t have a swimming pool), T. J. and the All Night Mermen are made stronger physically and emotionally. T. J. may have it all together in the pool but life is more complicated outside of the pool. When he began his quest to help his Mermen earn their letter jackets, he also began a war against the status quo of the Cutter athletic world thus making Mike Barbour and Rich Marshall his sworn enemies. Matters don’t improve when Georgia Brown, T. J.’s therapist, asks his adoptive parents to take in Heidi, Rich Marshall’s mixed race stepdaughter, who has been verbally and physically abused by her racist stepfather. In the end, the Mermen are granted their letterman jackets and Heidi is given a chance at a better life away from her abusive stepfather but not before a disastrous decision on Rich Marshall’s part flips T. J.’s world upside down and back again. <br/><br/>Whale Talk was just the right mixture of athleticism, realistic issues and hope-filled endings. Chris Crutcher described the strength and endurance needed to be a swimmer accurately throughout the book. He also described the struggles of his many characters, which were often harsh, but often a reality for people who are different. T. J. and Heidi dealt with racist comments and physical abuse by Rich Marshall and other racist characters. Many of the Mermen dealt with obesity, loneliness, disabilities and other issues that alienated them from the rest of society and the other students at their high school. Mike Barbour and Rich Marshall preyed on these characters to bully and humiliate them. All of the Mermen found solace and friendship with their fellow teammates and were able to rise above their issues to find acceptance in themselves and the strength to accept others. The story had a tearjerker climax but amid the tears was an ending filled with hope for T. J.’s future and the futures of the other protagonists involved in the story. Whale Talk was hard to read at times because of the horrifying and sometimes graphic nature of some of the events like when Heidi tries to scrape her black skin off with a Brillo pad but even with moments like these it was hard to stop reading. The story was humorous, emotional, disturbing, uplifting and crushing but with all of the ups and down it ended on a hopeful note. Recommend<br/>"