Crutcher, Chris. (2003). Stotan! New York: Harper Collins. 261 pp.

Grade Range: 10-12

Genre: contemporary fiction

Summary and Critique

Four high school swimmers volunteer to participate in a marathon week of military-style aquatic training in an effort to prove themselves as athletes and improve themselves as young men. But the internal and external lessons they take from that week will carry them through the challenges of their senior year long after the echoes of Coach Max Il Song's bullhorn have faded. Life's lessons come quickly for Walker, Nortie, Lion and Jeff, as they face incredibly diverse obstacles including:

Balancing relationships with friends, girlfriends and family members.

Confronting domestic violence that has already taken the life of a sibling.

Battling the infiltration of their campus by white supremacists.

Coming to terms in a relationship with a drug-addicted and drug-pushing brother, and

Joining together to battle the terminal illness of a teammate.

Through Max's character – and a brief visit with his daughter and estranged wife – the swimmers also learn the key lesson to life: "This is a world where you pay for everything you do. Remember that. Life doesn't forgive you because you're young and ignorant. Life only has to be true to itself."

While the main characters are high school boys, the book's limited use of two female characters – Devnee and Elaine – will contribute to its appeal to young women, especially those who are athletically inclined.

Awards

American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults, 1986

School Library Journal's Best of the Best in Young Adult Literature list, 1986

Themes/Topics

Families

Friends and Enemies

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Challenges and Triumphs

Love, Sex, and Romance

Sports

Author Information

Chris Crutcher is a former teacher and family therapist who writes about realistic adolescent issues. In 2000, Chris Crutcher received the Margaret A. Edwards Award. The Edwards Award honors authors whose work helps teenagers become aware of themselves and gives insight into their relationships with others and society.    

For more information on Chris Crutcher:

http://www.aboutcrutcher.com Chris Crutcher's official web site. Includes information about books, current projects, and how to contact Crutcher.

http://www.authortracker.com/b4teens_author.asp?a=authorid&b=16156 Biography and bibliography

Media Connections

Movies

Better Off Dead (1985) In this comedy, a high school boy experiences a string of bad luck until he befriends a beautiful foreign exchange student.

Hoosiers (1986) In 1956 Indiana, a coach and an alcoholic father lead an unpolished basketball team to victory.

The Sure Thing (1985) Two college freshmen with polar opposite personalities experience a rather turbulent journey while traveling across the country to L.A.

Brian's Song (1972) A professional football player, Gale Sayers, befriends a dying cancer patient, Brian Piccolo.

Television

Square Pegs Two unpopular girls desperately want to be accepted by the popular crowd.

Welcome Back Kotter A new teacher begins his career teaching a group of interesting and comedic students in remedial classes in Brooklyn.

My So-Called Life This short-lived drama explores the trials and tribulations of a group of high school students during the 1990s, addressing such issues as homosexuality, first love, drinking, drug use, and family problems.

Music

"Ebony and Ivory." Written and performed by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. From All the Best. Capitol, 1990.This duet explores the reasons and results of racial tensions.

Online Resources

http://www.austin-safeplace.org/site/PageServer?pagename=info Located in Austin, Texas, SafePlace exists to end sexual and domestic violence and abuse.

http://www.magenta.nl/crosspoint With a primarily teen-age audience, Crosspoint links more than 2,000 organizations in 113 countries aimed at ending racial intolerance.

http://www.usswim.org The official homepage for United States Swimming.

http://www.goarmy.com Information on meeting military challenges through the U.S. Army and U.S. Army reserve.

http://www.leukemia.org/hm_lls Home page for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, providing information about leukemia and other blood cancers.

Related Texts

Crutcher, Chris. (1991). Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories. New York: Greenwillow Books. 154pp. Crutcher addresses teen issues in these six short stories about high school athletes. Some of the characters in these stories also appear in his other novels, such as Lionel Serbousek from Stotan.

Chavoor, Sherman. (1973). The 50-Meter Jungle: How Olympic Gold-Medal Swimmers Are Made. New York: Coward, McCann, Geoghegan. 223pp. The Arden Hills swim coach chronicles the training, trials and triumphs of his numerous Olympians, including Mark Spitz.

Crane, Stephen. (1926). The Red Badge of Courage. New York: D. Appelton and Co. 242pp. A new soldier fighting for the Union Army rapidly matures as the result of the horrors of war.

Ricks, Thomas. (1997). Making the Corps. New York: Scribner. 320pp. Ricks describes the boot camp experience of Marines-in-training at Parris Island in South Carolina.

Woulfe, James B. (1998). Into the Crucible: Making Marines for the 21^st Century. Novato, CA: Presidio. 183pp. An eyewitness account from Parris Island describing in-depth the modern training of a platoon of possible future United States Marines.

Teaching Ideas

(1) "Character Cards" Students use 3" x 5" Index Cards to draw, download or cut out of magazines pictures that look like the key characters in the story. They can choose 3-to-5 characters. On the back, they can choose from a number of options to list the "statistics" of the characters. For example, Walker's might read:

**Complete Coach Max Il Song's"Stotan!" program, December 1983.

**1984 Washington State High School Swim Champion 500-yard freestyle.

**Assisted in rescuing teammate Nortie from abusive home situation.

**Stood up to racial injustice on high school campus.

Other possible descriptions for the backside of the card can be key character quotes. For example, Max's might read:

"This is a world where you pay for everything you do. Remember that. Life doesn't forgive you because you're young and ignorant. Life only has to be true to itself."

[Summarized/adapted from "Ordinary and Literary Heroes Cards" by Rose Reissman in Notes Plus. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. October 1997.]

(Review written by Jeff Olsen and edited by Jennifer E. Moore)