Athletic Shorts

I have just finished the 194-page book Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher. This book was about kids who have problems on and off the court and how they handle them. Each story was different and had it's own set of problems. As I read this book I was more interested in each one to find out how everything would turn out.

There was one story in this book called The Pin. The story was about this kid who was a great wrestler, but his father was really hard on him. One example that was shown was when him and his mother were eating and he saw his brother eating cereal with a fork and he made a comment saying that his brother will become a "cereal killer" and his mother told him not to do that in front of his father. He then said, " 'I know,' I say. 'Ten push-ups per word, including the setup. What do you think that one would have totaled?' " (36) I don't know about you but that is harsh on a kid. The kid can't even play around or he has to do push-ups. I guess it is all for the better though, the kid probably does them all the time and they needed a way to stop him from doing that.

There was one story called Goin' Fishin' and in the preface of the story the narrator says at the end something that I know from first hand; "Like most of us, When his pain is greatest, he covers it up with anger, anger approaching rage. That rage has the power to consume." (103) This is true I remember when I was younger I had always kept my feelings in and now that I am older I have learned that you need to let out your anger because if you keep it in it can drag you down and kill you.

This book was really amazing and truly a heart warming book. I would love to recommend this book to