Chris Crutcher

(http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/ images/CCheadshot2.jpg)

My hero, Chris Crutcher, was born on July, 17, 1946 in Cascade Idaho. Chris is the middle of three children. Crutcher read only To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee in high school. Crutcher earned a B.A. degree in sociology and psychology from Eachster Washington State College, where he spend a lot of time swimming. He is also a distance runner and swimmer; athletics appear throughout his books. Crutcher taught in an alternative school in California, then he returned to Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a child and family therapist, he is now a full time writer who works with the Child Protection Team in Spokane. He is important to me because he inspires me through his books: Stotan, Whale Talk, and Staying Fat for Sarah Brynes. Stotan and Whale Talk are books hat have to do with a group of kids that have to go against the odds for a great cost. Chris Crutcher has made a difference in my life because I swim and Stotan keeps me going in the pool. Stotan made me a great swimmer and gave me that inner power to never quit. In Stotan the characters experience a week of physical and mental discipline while reaching their inner feeling and making them a group of elite swimmers and people. It teaches them to never quit no matter what, to show no feeling for the outside world no matter what the situation is. Whale Talk taught me a great lesson in life. It taught me to treat every person equally no matter who they are. And I like how T.J, the main character, takes a group of unusual guys (that’s how Barbour and Rich describe themselves) and he puts them all in letterman jackets which is a big deal at Cutter High.