Crutcher was born to a
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to
CascadeCascade is a rural city in and the county seat of Valley County, Idaho, United States, in the west central part of the state. It sits at an elevation of 4780 feet , along the North Fork of the Payette River...
,
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
, where Crutcher grew up.
He graduated from Eastern Washington State College (now called
Eastern Washington UniversityEastern Washington University is a public comprehensive state university. The main campus is located in Cheney and has a branch campus in Spokane, Washington...
) with a BA in psychology and sociology. He taught primary and secondary school in California and Washington before beginning his writing career. More detailed information is included in his autobiography,
King of the Mild Frontier.
Biography
Crutcher was born to a
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
bomber pilot and a homemaker on July 17, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio. They later moved to
CascadeCascade is a rural city in and the county seat of Valley County, Idaho, United States, in the west central part of the state. It sits at an elevation of 4780 feet , along the North Fork of the Payette River...
,
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
, where Crutcher grew up.
He graduated from Eastern Washington State College (now called
Eastern Washington UniversityEastern Washington University is a public comprehensive state university. The main campus is located in Cheney and has a branch campus in Spokane, Washington...
) with a BA in psychology and sociology. He taught primary and secondary school in California and Washington before beginning his writing career. More detailed information is included in his autobiography,
King of the Mild Frontier.
Writing
Crutcher's debut novel was
Running Loose in 1983 about a senior in high school who has it all until life throws him for a few loops. Many of his novels concern teenaged athletes who have personal problems. Most of his protagonists are male, teenage athletes, often swimmers, and recurring supporting characters include a wise Asian-American teacher or coach and a caring journalism teacher.
Chris Crutcher's writing is controversial, and has been frequently challenged and even banned by individuals who want to
censorCensorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor.-Rationale:...
his books by removing them from libraries and classrooms.
Running Loose and
Athletic Shorts were on the ALA's top 100 list of most frequently challenged books for 1990-2000. His books generally feature teens coping with serious problems, including abusive parents, racial and religious prejudice, mental and physical disability, and poverty; these themes are viewed as too mature for children. Other cited reasons for
censorshipCensorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor.-Rationale:...
include strong language and depictions of homosexuality. Despite this controversy, Crutcher's writing has received many awards.
Crutcher has also written an autobiography called
King of the Mild Frontier (2003), an adult novel titled
The Deep End (1991), and
Athletic Shorts (1991), an anthology of 6 YA short stories, some of which further explore characters from his previous novels. One of the stories from that compilation, "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune", was made into a film called
Angus.
The American Library Association has named eight of his books, “Best Books for Young Adults.”
Chris Crutcher's biography
Presenting Chris Crutcher was penned by fellow Spokane born author
Terry DavisTerry Davis is an American novelist who lives in Minnesota and is currently a professor in the English department at Minnesota State University, Mankato , where he teaches Creative writing--fiction and screenwriting--as well as adolescent literature...
, another respected young-adult author.
Crutcher's writing is noted for its wit and humor, and as a result of his propensity towards ribaldy (i.e. bawdy humor), is often considered to be the truest replication of adolencent thought patterns produced by someone over the age of 20. According to a close friend, Crutcher is quite proud of the fact that he has "grossed out three generations."
Selected works
- Running Loose (1983)
- Stotan! (1986)
- The Crazy Horse Electric Game (1987)
- Chinese Handcuffs (1989)
- Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes is a 1993 coming of age novel by young adult writer Chris Crutcher. It has been recognized by the American Library Association as a "Best Book for Young Adults"...
(1993)
- Ironman
Ironman is a 1995 novel by young adult writer Chris Crutcher. It is the story of Beauregard Brewster, a high school student training for a triathlon while also in disputes with his father and English teacher, both of whom exhibit portentous views of masculine authority...
(1995)
- Whale Talk
Whale Talk is a 2001 novel by young adult writer Chris Crutcher. It is narrated by The Tao "T.J." Jones, an adopted Asian-African-European-American teenager living in Cutter, Washington, a fictional location described in the novel as being within the Pacific Northwest's Inland Empire, about 50...
(2001)
- King of the Mild Frontier (2003)
- The Sledding Hill
The Sledding Hill is a 2005 post-modern metafictional novel by young adult writer Chris Crutcher. By having the novel narrated by a super-omniscient dead boy and placing himself into the novel, Crutcher has written a work that encompasses two literary fads.-Plot summary:The novel is narrated by...
(2005)
- Deadline (2007)
- Angry Management (2009)
Awards
- 2004 – Writer Magazine’s Writers Who Make a Difference Award.
- 2000 – Four of his books appear on Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online. It is published twice monthly September through June and monthly in July...
's Best 100 Books of the 20th Century.
- 1998 – The NCTE SLATE Intellectual Freedom Award.
- 1993 – The ALAN Award from The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents
ALAN, The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents is an independent assembly of NCTE. Founded in November 1973, ALAN is made up of teachers, authors, librarians, publishers, teacher-educators and their students, and others who are particularly interested in the area of young adult literature...
.
External links