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A review by christieatthelibrary
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
3.0
Whale Talk is a is narrated by The Tao "T.J." Jones, an adopted Asian/African American teenager. The story takes place in Cutter High School, which prides itself heavily on the physical achievements of its students, and thrives on the winnings of the football and basketball teams. T.J, tired of the bulling that goes on in his school, gets together six fellow outcasts to form a swim team.
This book was ok. I liked that it was not just about T,J's racial struggle as a minority, but also about outcasts and minorities in general. T.J. may be one of the only black people he knows, but he still is able to find a sense of community in his swim team. If I had one problem with the book, it would be that it felt a little stereotypical. It felt like all the drama and violence of the story was coming from black characters and the book seemed to reinforce tropes of African American's having to overcome the violence. I think this story could have represented T.J's experiences as a minority without including these stereotypes of blackness.
I think this would be a good book for kids to have access to, a good book to keep in a school library or on a shelf in a classroom. However, I don't think I would personally recomend it to any teenagers. (partially because I think it might make a minority student feel awkward to have a minority book recommended to them, and also because this book was not that fantastic). I will say however, that I like that it's kinda a book about sports, but also a book about other issues as well, which means it might appeal to lots of different types of kids.
This book was ok. I liked that it was not just about T,J's racial struggle as a minority, but also about outcasts and minorities in general. T.J. may be one of the only black people he knows, but he still is able to find a sense of community in his swim team. If I had one problem with the book, it would be that it felt a little stereotypical. It felt like all the drama and violence of the story was coming from black characters and the book seemed to reinforce tropes of African American's having to overcome the violence. I think this story could have represented T.J's experiences as a minority without including these stereotypes of blackness.
I think this would be a good book for kids to have access to, a good book to keep in a school library or on a shelf in a classroom. However, I don't think I would personally recomend it to any teenagers. (partially because I think it might make a minority student feel awkward to have a minority book recommended to them, and also because this book was not that fantastic). I will say however, that I like that it's kinda a book about sports, but also a book about other issues as well, which means it might appeal to lots of different types of kids.