Whale Talk

Crutcher, C. (2001). Whale Talk. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Brief Annotation: The Tao Jones, an athletic high school senior, never thought that he would join an organized school team. That is, until his favorite teacher asks him to captain the swim team, a new sport at Cutter High. His time on the team requires overcoming many barriers (no school pool, no support from the athletic council, being social ostracized, etc). The team also provides a space for The Dao (T.J.) and his fellow swimmers to process the difficulties they have faced in life, including physical and emotional abuse, racism, and mental and physical exceptionalities.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Sports Fiction, Novel

Grade Level: 7-12

Readers who will like this: students drawn to stories about unlikely friendships, readers who enjoy novels written in authentic voice, adolescents dealing with difficult issues in their past and/or present.

Response/Rating (1-4): *** This book was not at all what I was expecting. I picked it up, anticipating a sports story with a shallow, jock protagonist. Instead, I got an intense novel that deals with violence, child abuse, racism, ignorance, loss and guilt. I am not sure that I would read this with a high school class. It would require a high maturity level and the ability to read about difficult topics.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: Have you ever been in a situation in which you had to stick up for someone else?

Reading Strategies Connection: Literature Map (Yopp & Yopp, pp. 62-66). This activity can be done throughout the reading of this book, perhaps after every chapter or every few chapters. The literature map will help students to process important elements in each section of the book such as plot, character development, use of language, etc.. The map can be divided into as many sections as needed: six would work well for this book. Section headers could include T.J. (The Tao Jones) and any other prominent character in the chapter (his teacher, Mr. Simet, or his rival, Mike Barbour), major events, setting, questions and predictions, and interesting language.