 Author tells it like it is to teens (Kalamazoo Gazette) Matthew Jakubowski Adult Published Read an Excerpt KALAMAZOO GAZETTE Award-winning author Chris Crutcher's novels for teens have been banned by school boards and praised by students throughout his writing career. A look at a few of the issues he writes about -- coping with disease, school violence, child abuse, homophobia and racism -- makes it clear why opinions about his books are so split: These aren't light, happy topics. Excerpt Author tells it like it is to teens Sunday, March 16, 2003 KALAMAZOO GAZETTE Award-winning author Chris Crutcher's novels for teens have been banned by school boards and praised by students throughout his writing career. A look at a few of the issues he writes about -- coping with disease, school violence, child abuse, homophobia and racism -- makes it clear why opinions about his books are so split: These aren't light, happy topics. But for Crutcher, a teacher and child/family counselor from Spokane, Wash., who will be in Kalamazoo this week for a three-day visit, not addressing these issues in his fiction would be almost like lying. Crutcher, 56, holds himself to one main rule when writing for teens. "I've never written anything that didn't connect to some kind of truth, either in my own life or in the life of someone else that I know," he said. He'll expound on this idea during his talks this week at the local juvenile home and two middle schools as well as in a public talk for teens and adults Tuesday at the Kalamazoo Public Library and another public talk aimed at educators on Wednesday at Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Texas Township campus. With such weighty issues in his life and work and with his regular rounds of battle with censors around the country, it might be surprising to hear that laughter is one of Crutcher's secret weapons. Humor is "hugely important," he said last week during a phone interview from his home in Spokane. "It has to be, because we're telling some really, really hard stories here." It took time for those hard stories to make it into print: Crutcher didn't start writing until he was 35. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology/sociology from Eastern Washington State College and later a teaching certificate. He then became a counselor to abuse victims and a specialist in anger management. After 20 years of counseling others, humor is indispensable to Crutcher. "It's hard for me to write humorless," he said. "Humor comes easy. With all the stories I hear as a counselor, the tragedy comes easy. Plus, in the world I work in, where I'm dealing with child abuse that in some cases leads to death, or cases of molestation -- to survive in that world, you better have a sense of humor." Crutcher has published nine novels -- eight for teens and one book of suspense for adults -- and a short-story collection. In 1993, he won the ALAN award from the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English), given "to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to the field of adolescent literature." He's also won six American Library Association awards, and in 2000 he received the association's Margaret A. Edwards Award, in honor of his lifetime contribution to writing for teens. In April, Random House will release his book "King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography." "Mild" is a curious choice of words for a guy who tells you he's had two books on the List of the 100 Most Banned Books since 1969. But he says he's tried to understand the concerns of parents who object to his work. "The censorship I've dealt with is usually coming from people who think that if a kid reads a bad word in a book, that the author's telling them to use it. It's as if because I try to tell a story in the native tongue, that it's somehow corrupting kids, because I used the language they use in the parking lot and at school." A few local teens who've read one of Crutcher's books, "Whale Talk," saw merit in the book despite some off-color slang. The novel is about a group of social misfits who band together against bullies. "It didn't seem like an adult trying to sound like a teen," said Kirsten Baldwin-Wilson, 15, a Kalamazoo Central High School sophomore. "It was like a teen was writing it." She praised the novel as "very realistic" and said it "seemed like a true story." Baldwin-Wilson participated in the Kalamazoo Public Library's "Pizza and Pages" program, a reading and social event that ended with a discussion of the book on Feb. 27. The discussion included talk about one character's encounters with racists, which led to some frank comments about racial divisions among students at a local high school. "There were some students who talked about racism at Loy Norrix High School," said Michael Wilholt, 13, a seventh-grader at Paramount Charter Academy, "about how the black, white and Latino students sit in different groups at lunch. They (the students at the discussion) said they felt like it (that high-school experience) was awful." As for the swearing included in the book, Wilholt said: "We all hear it in everyday life. I don't think it's approvable, but ... you hear it around school." Nathan Roe, a home-schooled 13-year-old member of the library's teen advisory board, said the book included "quite a bit of swearing, but it was street language. It made it more believable. It made sense." All three teens said they plan to read more of Crutcher's work in the future or have already started to read his other books. Crutcher sees his would-be censors' complaints as a "cover" for deeper problems. "When the kids see what the school board and parents are afraid of, kids know that these are the things that they (schools or parents) can't help them with," Crutcher said. "So if something bad happens (in a student's life), they're not going to tell them. The kids are going to get information on the street, and they're going to get bad information. "When people object about what I'm writing for kids, I want to say, 'Those kids are sitting in your classroom.' My remedy is to talk about it. It's hard to do ... and it's hard to admit that it's uncomfortable to talk about." But talking about hard issues has been part of Crutcher's job as a counselor. "I usually soft-pedal this sort of thing ... but the majority of the people who object to my work are right-wing, Christian conservatives. Ninety-nine percent of them see the world in black and white. "I've worked with some pretty tough customers. If you get into their lives, you'll learn that nobody's all good or bad -- no matter how you characterize those qualities. If you're going to challenge yourself to create something graceful, you're not going to have black and white answers, you're going to be in the gray areas." Matthew Jakubowski can be reached at 388-8526 or mjakubowski@ kalamazoogazette.com. TALKS BY CRUTCHER For teens, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Van Deusen Room, Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 S. Rose. 553-7807. For teachers, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, 6767 West O Ave., Texas Township. 553-7807. http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/features-0/1047814198147290.xml?kzgazette |
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