Sportsmanship

Chris Crutcher's Running Loose is about more than just football and running. It's about more than being in high school and dealing with all kinds of different prejudices. It is about a boy who has it all and then has to watch it all wither away. He loses his spot on the football team after freaking out about the actions committed against a negro on the other team, he loses his girlfriend to a tragic accident, and he loses the enjoyment that he once found in school. However, through it all, Louie is able to find something to hold on to. He learns to move beyond blaming God for his problems and to just run loose. Life isn't always perfect, but joy can be found at any time. Crutcher tells this moving story in a humorous way; it isn't a moral story. I would recommend this book to anyone, as long as they didn't mind a bit of profanity. ( )

This was a good book! I chose from a pile of books, to read this in tenth grade. ( )

Deadline by Chris Crutcher

What if you found out you only had a year to live? What would you do in that short time?

Early one summer, Ben soon to be a senior in high school; faced the most difficult year of his life. He found out when he went to the hospital for his annual physical for school that he was slowly dying. Ben had to make the biggest decision of his life: try live the most normal year he could, or go through treatment and extend his life a little and have everyone feel sorry for him. He chose to live life. Ben had always dreamed and felt that he would never live past eighteen. He wanted to make a difference in the world before his time ran out, but how? How could an eighteen year old boy that lives in Idaho do anything? How will his death affect his family? Will and can he make a difference? All he can do is try, and that’s what he does. I enjoyed this book a lot it made me really think how important it is to live your life like it’s your last day. Ben finds out that he is actually the lucky one because he knows that he only has a while to live unlike us. We never know when it’s our Time. So live life.

By, Hannah Olson ( )

“Hey, you know, this isn’t a whole lot of fun.”
“Ain’t is it? Not hardly worth playin’. Funny too, ‘cause the rules are simple and easy.”

Louie Banks doesn’t have the worst life. His friends and people he knows have it bad with abusive parents and bad influences, but compared to them, Louie lives like a god. With great friends, a fantastic football player, and the most wanted girlfriend in the school named Becky, who’s eyes makes guys ache for her. What can go wrong?

Apparently a lot. In a big game, Louie fights against the coach who ordered one of his players to hurt the star player on the opposite team, and what he gets for that is getting kicked out of the team. It’s still not that bad. He has supporters that love him and care for him including Becky, but as things start to look better, Louie’s life is running loose.

All of Chris Crutcher’s main characters have relatively good lives. They always do compare to their best friend or one of their enemies. Also, Crutcher makes you want to root for the main character, because every other one ticks you off, including any/all Catholics. That and with drugs, abuse, language, and other suggestive themes, no wonder people want to ban his books, but each books has their own lesson, but you have to look inside yourself to figure that out. I highly recommend all of his books. They’re short, and to me, guarantee satisfaction.

Rating: Four Stars **** ( )