Synopsis
A gifted athlete who's twice qualified as a swimmer in the Junior Olympics, disenfranchised high school senior T.J. Jones (the only student of color in his school) has always shunned school athletics. It is only after his favorite teacher, Mr. Simet, begs him to help form a swim team for the school (thus helping save Mr. Simet's job), that T.J. becomes a high school athlete. Given the right to assemble his own team, T.J. recruits only fellow outcasts and winds up with "a representative from each extreme of the educational spectrum, a muscle man, a giant, a chameleon, and a one-legged psychopath." Named one of the Best Children's Books 2001 by Publishers Weekly.
Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2002-12-01 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Length: | 220 pages | | Height: | 6.8 in | | Width: | 4.3 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 4.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
Seven unlikely teammates, swimmers who become, in the words of their coach "A perennial road team. Mermen without a pond," find an unexpected refuge in a big yellow Cutter High School bus, in a captivating, sad, and humorous novel. Reprint.
Industry Reviews
"In the hand's of a lesser storyteller, the tale would fall apart under its own weight, but Crutcher juggles the disparate elements of his plot with characteristic energy, crafting a compulsively readable story that rings true with genuine feeling and is propelled by exhilarating swimming action to an ending that is both cataclysmic and triumphant."
Kirkus Reviews (03/01/2001)
"Crutcher's superior gifts as a storyteller and his background as a working therapist combine to make magic in WHALE TALK. The thread of truth in his fiction reminds us that heroes can come in any shape, color, ability or size, and friendship can bridge nearly any divide. A truly exceptional book."
Washington Post Book World - Kelly Milner Halls (05/10/2001)
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