Reviewed by Angie Fisher for TeensReadToo.com
Google Chris Crutcher, and chances are one of the first topics to pop up will be censorship. That alone is cause for this reviewer to pick up his books.
A therapist and child advocate, Crutcher is one of the finest authors I've read for teens. He not only uses real experiences with real adolescents to form his characters, he hits young adult reality fiction right on. Crutcher is honest, straightforward, and not afraid to tackle the hard subjects coming-of-age lessons forge. And boy, do kids respond.
ANGRY MANAGEMENT is Crutcher's latest novel. Built out of three novellas involving some familiar characters from past books, adolescents and grown ups alike who can't appreciate the honesty and raw emotion brought forth from these characters do so out of fear of today's reality.
The novellas are connected by Mr. Nak's (IRONMAN, 1995, HarperCollins) Angry Management group, a place where teens who don't follow the norm meet to tell their stories. The stories they've lived from the cards they've been dealt.
Anger is most definitely a theme in these pages, but so are love and prejudice, freedom of religion and abuse. Hope and survival. Crutcher has a way of pulling at the deep, raw emotion we all possess, especially for kids, and bringing it to the surface. No wonder so many find his work threatening.
Google Chris Crutcher, and chances are one of the first topics to pop up will be censorship. That alone is cause for this reviewer to pick up his books.
A therapist and child advocate, Crutcher is one of the finest authors I've read for teens. He not only uses real experiences with real adolescents to form his characters, he hits young adult reality fiction right on. Crutcher is honest, straightforward, and not afraid to tackle the hard subjects coming-of-age lessons forge. And boy, do kids respond.
ANGRY MANAGEMENT is Crutcher's latest novel. Built out of three novellas involving some familiar characters from past books, adolescents and grown ups alike who can't appreciate the honesty and raw emotion brought forth from these characters do so out of fear of today's reality.
The novellas are connected by Mr. Nak's (IRONMAN, 1995, HarperCollins) Angry Management group, a place where teens who don't follow the norm meet to tell their stories. The stories they've lived from the cards they've been dealt.
Anger is most definitely a theme in these pages, but so are love and prejudice, freedom of religion and abuse. Hope and survival. Crutcher has a way of pulling at the deep, raw emotion we all possess, especially for kids, and bringing it to the surface. No wonder so many find his work threatening.
