Athletic Shorts: What is the Big Deal?
Chris Crutcher's book, Athletic Shorts, is one of the many books that appears on the list of banned or challenged books submitted to library's across the nation for the American Library Association's, National Banned Books Week. The books on this list are deemed as offensive in some way that young adolescents should not be allowed to read them. Crutcher's book contains some words and topics that people believe young adolescents should not be subjected to in literature. What is the big deal about situations that these readers must face today and are exposed to all over the news world on a daily basis? The ALA defines a challenge to a book as an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based up the objections of a person or group. Records of book challenging have been kept since about 1990 by the ALA. Once a book is challenged it does not necessarily mean it will be removed from curriculum or a library. When it is officially removed it is now known as a banned book. The author of Athletic Shorts, Chris Crutcher obtained his education from Eastern Washington State University. There he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and sociology. After taking a year off he then went back to school to get a teaching ce
He has been around adolescents with problems for the most part of his life, working as the director for an alternative school in Oakland. " One day the son challenges his father to a wrestling match once and for all to settle the constant disagreements that they have. Not only has he been awarded for his literary achievements but also for standing up against the censorship of literature for young adults. In a biography published by the Carmel Clay Public Library it mentions that, "[. Athletic Shorts has caused controversy in many places. This book deals with situations that many teenagers must face today. In the story "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune," the protagonist Angus is an overweight teenager with two sets of homosexual parents. Even though this book has a Young Adult rating it still appeals to many adult readers. At one point in the article she states, "There's genuine brutality and evil in these stories, but there's a fascinating and believable kind of triumph as well -- both of spirit and of practical survival" (Sheffer). To them and everyone watching this match, this is like a changing of the guard and now the younger one is in control. She gives us a reason to not bann or challenge these books. There are significant amounts of people who think kids should not be exposed in print to what they are exposed to in their lives" (qtd. If people would look at the strong lessons that Crutcher is trying to teach and stop only looking skin deep and seeing the content only as words then there would be no big controversy over thes books. In all of the short stories the characters face different problems that many teenagers face today.
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