Status
Available
Call number
Call number
F Cru
Genres
Collection
Publication
Laurel Leaf (2002), Edition: 58497th, 224 pages
Description
Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.
Subjects
Original publication date
2001
Similar in this library
User reviews
LibraryThing member MelissaOdette
Whale talk is a very emotional book in the sense that it deals with some very heavy subjects. There is abuse, death, bullying, racism, and more. This book is a very easy read and is very complex at the same time. This book is told from the point of view of T.J. Jones. He is good at just about every
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sport and yet he's not on any teaam, but that all changes very quickly. When a boy named Chris Coughlin is being bullied for wearing his dead brothers letterman jacket, he is bullied by that jocks of the school. That's when T.J. steps in and make a swim team so that kids like Chris Coughlin can earn a lettermans jacket of thier own. Show Less
LibraryThing member jclarkd
i've read this book twice now and i'm still not bored of it. The book had me going untill the last page. It revolves around the captain of cutter highschool's swim team, T.J jones. At his highschool the letterman jacket is the ultimate symbol for athletics, and anyone who wears it, therefore it's
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almost unattainable. When mike bourbor, one of the antagonists of the story, sees chris coughlin wearing his dead brothers letter jacket he starts to bully and threaten him. Thats when T.J. jones plots for a way chris, and others like him, can get a letter of their own. Then his journalism teacher, simet, proposes the idea of cutters first swim team. Along the way they make a team, bond with eachother, and battle racism and football players. I'd recommend this to anyone. Show Less
LibraryThing member TraciD
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher isn't a book that captures your immediate attention. It honestly took me a while to get into it, but once I did I couldn't put it down. The character's stories in the book are so realistic and pragmatic that you'll always relate. From The Tao Jones, an adopted black
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teenager, to Rich Marshall, an abhorrent white man, the characters will enthrall every reader. Show Less
LibraryThing member perlaz
"Whale Talk" is such a great book, every page you turn has you at the edge of your seat! "Whale Talk" is about the outcasts in Cutter High School. None of them seem to fit in with the Cutter High School athletic standards. With the help of Tj they become the swim team of Cutter High and earn a
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letter. Show Less
LibraryThing member MichaelLopez
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher was a good all around book. It deals with many big problems in society that most people dont want to talk about, he directly addresses it. This book might not interest every reader though. I believe this is more of guy's book because it has a lot to do with sports and
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male testosterone. One of the most appealing parts of this story was the part where the main character stands up and trys to help all those that have been bullied and is trying to help them take revenge on the jocks who have terrorized there lives. It is a strong book in the sence that it deals with so many big problems in just one book such as raceism and abuse and those are only a select few. it was a good book. Show Less
LibraryThing member MelissaMarieL
This is a good book. TJ's mom left him when he was young, leaving him with foster parents who treat him good. He is a star athlete but doesn't play sports because he doesn't like being told what to do. He helps form a swim team at Cutter High School and helps people that don't really fit in get a
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letterman jacket. Show Less
LibraryThing member SavannahC
This a pretty good book. I mean, it’s not my favorite, but I think the different development in the characters and theme of it is extremely interesting. It’s about a multiracial senior in high school, TJ, who is extremely athletically capable, but because he doesn’t like the way his school
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conducts sports he chooses not to join them. Well, he feels that way until he decides he’s going to stay a swim team for the school to help the outcasts of the school to wear the blue and gold jackets, that are so prestigious at Cutter high school. It deals with problems such as child abuse, spousal abuse, racism, and the effect of bullying. I definitely recommend this book. I even tried to get my mom to read it, but she was too busy at work; oh well, her loss. Show Less
LibraryThing member JessicaSR
All T.J. Jones wanted was revenge from the jocks who thought they were so superior to everyone else. He wanted to show the jocks, the coach, and the entire school that even an outsider or someone that wasn't in major sports can earn the honor of wearing a letter jacket. However, T.J. could care
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less about the "pride" a letter jacket gives to a someone in Cutter High. He wants people like Chris Coughlin to have the opportunity to be a part of something. Pretty soon the swim team is born with a bright future and possibilities which include more than just trophies. Friendships are formed that will last longer than the season. Show Less
LibraryThing member julie_s
Whale talk was pretty boring up until the third chapter, but once I got into it I couldn’t put it down. The book kept you asking why and kept you wondering. It kind of gave you a lot of things at once and made it all come together and understand everything in the end. The way Chris Crutcher
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describes things makes you feel like you were there living the moment with T.J. and everyone. The letter jacket was used as symbol in Whale Talk; it represented how the school was all about sports and T.J.’s main goal was to get one for all the misfits and to make them fell like they belonged to something. In the beginning they swim team was quiet and everybody was weary of eachother but at the end of the book they were a happy family and were bestfriends. Overall this book was great, definatly worth reading at least once. Show Less
LibraryThing member mattsya
There is something about Chris Crutcher's protaganists that make them seem a little bit older, a little more self-aware than their age. Where many YA novels deal with awkward, insecure characters finding self-confidence, Crutcher's confident characters are a bit of a relief. Many readers would like
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to see a more confident version of themselves who overcomes life's adversity with a strength and humor. Here, T.J. is a very confident character with the awareness to bring together the awkward and be like a kind, knowing, older brother. T.J makes a strange, anachronistc reference, "you know that Li'l Abner character with a cloud over his head all the time?" Well, no, I don't, and neither would anyone born after 1970 or so. Show Less
LibraryThing member TunstallSummerReads
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
even-keeled, he has turned out to be smart and funny. 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.
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
Show More
therapist and his decent, loving, ex-hippie adoptive parents, he's not only fairlyeven-keeled, he has turned out to be smart and funny. 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.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kpickett
TJ likes to go against the grain. So when the school jocks start saying who can and can't wear a letter jacket, TJ decides to join the fledgling swim team to prove them wrong. The team is full of school misfits but with the help of a passionate coach and tons of gumption they manage to make it.
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While this is going on TJ is also fighting a battle against the town racist who needs to be taught a lesson. The ending to this one is sad so beware, I cried a lot. Show Less
LibraryThing member MrsHillReads
I think Crutcher is a great author, I often recommend his books to the non-traditional student, the non-athlete, the not real popular type of student.
LibraryThing member chibimajo
TJ, multiracial and adopted, is a great athlete, but resists joining any team sports until his school forms a swim team. This swim team is composed of outcasts, etc who have big problems of their own.
LibraryThing member hansenm2
Yet another outstanding novel by Chris Crutcher, but yet again it is another of his novels that has been banned in some areas and come under heavy controversy. This time many people have been offended by the author’s use of racial slang. Though the slang is very off-putting, I don’t think it is
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any reason for it to be banned, if anything the slang is reason for the book to be taught. This is because embodies, oddly enough, the idea of multicultural education. It does this by showing the harmful effects that racism has on people. The slang that many find offensive only magnifies these effects and by no means shows racism in a positive light. Additionally, the story gives the readers the perspective of the racist and shows how harmful it is to them and their families as well. I feel that the critics of the book have not read the book critically enough to see this, because if they had they may have seen the benefits of teaching rather than just focusing on the slang, which was meant to show the ways that racism hurts everyone involved. Show Less
LibraryThing member Omrythea
Whale Talk explores many issues deeply. A thought-provoking read. Heart-wrenching and empowering at different times.
LibraryThing member av71
I particularly enjoyed Chris, a special ed student who tends to interpret conversations literally and whose dignity T.J. and the team protect.
LibraryThing member MattLopez
Whale Talk, a story about a boy T.J. Jones and his latest conflicts in high school in Northern Idaho, is a compelling story that will make a grown man cry. Every high school has its outcasts, but imagine if those outcasts were now your varsity swim team. Helped by T.J., a wise cracking, athletic,
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and smart individual, he is what keeps the chance alive for any student to earn their varsity lettermen jacket. But of course there is always someone who stands in the way. What comes with outcasts, comes with the jocks. The angry athletic establishment is the only thing standing in the way of Cutter High School’s swim team. Nevertheless this onward battle will determine whether the swim team earns their varsity lettermen jackets. Along with that, on the side, T.J. goes through some heart wrenching conflicts within his family structure that will change Mr. Jones forever. Show Less
LibraryThing member YAlit
All teens who struggle with fitting in will identify with T.J.’s story, especially those who are adopted or are multiracial. The story is well written and the characters are well developed as well.
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
TJ, an adopted multiracial teen, is athletic and smart. He avoids organized sports until he decides to form a swimming team made up of the school misfits.
LibraryThing member sdea
This book tells a story that is more than high school days of sports and teenage cliques. It is jammed pack with characters who each have their own crosses to bear.
Sexual, physical, racial and social abuse are some of the challenges that the teens face. There are evil adults and good adults who
Great book to read to high schoolers. It is a classic root for the underdog type of theme. Friendship, beating the odds, hero characters, etc. However, it is not always about a happy ending or neat and tidy.
The book brings a lot of issues to the table. Even though this is real life stuff, I felt that it was somewhat of an overload for one reading.
Sexual, physical, racial and social abuse are some of the challenges that the teens face. There are evil adults and good adults who
Show More
weave in and out of the story. Great book to read to high schoolers. It is a classic root for the underdog type of theme. Friendship, beating the odds, hero characters, etc. However, it is not always about a happy ending or neat and tidy.
The book brings a lot of issues to the table. Even though this is real life stuff, I felt that it was somewhat of an overload for one reading.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dmckenna
A story about an adopted, multiracial high school boy named TJ whose mother was addicted to crack and crank. He was fortunate to be adopted by a loving couple. Although he is not a fan of athletic events he decides to get a group of unlikely outcasts to create a swim team. The more others are
An inspirational story for any student to see how even students that are handicapped, abused and adopted can have success and even triumph over amazing odds.
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opposed to the group the stronger his ambition is to win.An inspirational story for any student to see how even students that are handicapped, abused and adopted can have success and even triumph over amazing odds.
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LibraryThing member mrichter
After reading Chris Crutcher’s response letter I was so intrigued I had to go buy his book Whale Talk. The reader follows T.J. Jones a high school misfit and his group the “Cutter All Night Mermen” on a quest to attain the symbol of all that is wrong in his high school, a varsity letter
The interactions of the kids in this book include conversations full of sarcasm, sexual references, slang, and profanity. Though these things are often thought to be detrimental by adults I believe they make reading interesting for young people. If they can identify with the characters they are more likely to keep reading. I think this is the most important thing.
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jacket. Through this journey they are forced to interact with other members of the team and gradually learn things about themselves and their teammates that allow them to understand each other and grow in ways they did not think possible. I loved this book because of the realness. This is how teens interact whether they hide it from us or not it is there.The interactions of the kids in this book include conversations full of sarcasm, sexual references, slang, and profanity. Though these things are often thought to be detrimental by adults I believe they make reading interesting for young people. If they can identify with the characters they are more likely to keep reading. I think this is the most important thing.
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LibraryThing member dandelion1
Really heart wrenching ending, very raw and very real. This guy, TJ or The Dao Jones, very different, adopted, black, and Japanese -- takes on this group of misfits for a swim club and the challenge of winning them all letter jackets. There are these other two characters in the story, and ex-hs
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football player and a current one who are bullies who give TJ a total run for his money. Good stuff. Show Less
LibraryThing member kimcc
The book is very moving for the great amount of loss, violence, and sadness various characters face but also for how many seek to create love and safe places for each other in spite of the horrors. Chris Crutcher weaves humor into the story as well which keeps it from being too depressing and
Chris Crutcher's works are often challenged due to the realistic material and language. Teachers need to prepare students well for the books so that they can be included in the classroom. Perhaps his works could be read as part of Banned Books Week. They could also be a good entry point for discussions on school bullying and race relations.
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captures youth culture expertly with extremely realistic dialogue.Chris Crutcher's works are often challenged due to the realistic material and language. Teachers need to prepare students well for the books so that they can be included in the classroom. Perhaps his works could be read as part of Banned Books Week. They could also be a good entry point for discussions on school bullying and race relations.
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Pages
224