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Crazy Horse Electric Game by Chris Crutcher β€” book cover

Crazy Horse Electric Game

by Chris Crutcher
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Overview

Willie Weaver used to be a hero.
Now he's nothing.

Willie is a top athlete, the star of the legendary game against Crazy Horse Electric. Then a freak accident robs him of his once-amazing physical talents.

Betrayed by his family, his girlfriend, and his own body, Willie's on the run, penniless and terrified on the streets, where he must fight to rebuild both his body and his life.

A high school athlete, frustrated at being handicapped after an accident, runs away from home and is helped back to mental and physical health by a black benefactor and the people in a special school where he enrolls.

Synopsis

Willie Weaver used to be a hero.
Now he's nothing.

Willie is a top athlete, the star of the legendary game against Crazy Horse Electric. Then a freak accident robs him of his once-amazing physical talents.

Betrayed by his family, his girlfriend, and his own body, Willie's on the run, penniless and terrified on the streets, where he must fight to rebuild both his body and his life.

Children's Literature

The author captures the playful side of sports and its sense of timing. Without mincing words, he composes harsh realities with images that sometimes take your breath away-and sometimes make you belly-laugh in astonishment and delight. Willie Weaver is a teenage boy who lives in a nurturing family, has loads of friends and is a perfect athlete. And then comes an water-skiing accident which destroys not only his balance and physical prowess, but his family and his sense of self. Willie flees the scene of his unhappiness and struggles to regain his self-respect and some physical capabilities in tough, street-wise Oakland, California. The story is a poignant telling of courage, the struggle to survive life on all levels, and an examination of values once held dear.

About the Author, Chris Crutcher

Chris Crutcher has written nine critically acclaimed novels, an autobiography, and two collections of short stories. He has won three lifetime achievement awards for the body of his work: the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Outstanding Literature for Young Adults, the ALAN Award for a Significant Contribution to Adolescent Literature, and the NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Award.

He has been a child and family therapist with the Spokane Community Mental Health Center and is currently chairperson of the Spokane Child Protection Team. Chris Crutcher lives in Spokane, Washington.

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Susie Wilde

The author captures the playful side of sports and its sense of timing. Without mincing words, he composes harsh realities with images that sometimes take your breath away-and sometimes make you belly-laugh in astonishment and delight. Willie Weaver is a teenage boy who lives in a nurturing family, has loads of friends and is a perfect athlete. And then comes an water-skiing accident which destroys not only his balance and physical prowess, but his family and his sense of self. Willie flees the scene of his unhappiness and struggles to regain his self-respect and some physical capabilities in tough, street-wise Oakland, California. The story is a poignant telling of courage, the struggle to survive life on all levels, and an examination of values once held dear.

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up The title refers to the game for the Eastern Montana American Legion baseball championship, as the star pitcher, Willie Weaver, leads his team against the powerful squad from Crazy Horse Electric. But the emphasis of the novel shifts quickly away from baseball after Willie suffers a head injury in a water skiing accident. Unable to accept the loss of his athletic prowess, the pity of others, and his parents' troubled marriage, Willie runs away and ends up in the inner city of Oakland, California. After being beaten and robbed by a gang, Willie is rescued by a black bus driver/pimp, who enrolls Willie in a school for troubled youths. Thanks to the understanding staff of the school, Willie regains his mental and physical abilities and his self-confidence. He returns home to Montana, however, to learn that there is no longer a place for him in the lives of those he left. If nothing else, Crutcher manages to cram many of the most popular themes of young adult novels into this book, as Willie faces the crib death of his sister, divorce, drugs, sexual feelings, gang violence, mental handicaps, physical handicaps, prostitution, child beating, and more. Willie's present-tense narration is annoying, and does not work well for this story that covers several years. The author is best in the effective description of Willie's effort to recover from his injury. But this is the best that can be said for a novel that often seems contrived. Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, Ill.

Book Details

Published
March 1, 2003
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Pages
304
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780060094904

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