---Andy Mott is an interesting character. Nobody knew Andy had a fake leg, until swimming practice then the swim team knew. He slowly tells the story of how he lost his leg over the time of the swim season. He acts like he doesn't like when people ask him questions about his leg, but then every once in a while on the bus he'll say "how come you guys never asked me about my leg..." and then he'll spill out something about his life, and then he'll shut up and not say any more until another bus ride.
---Here is part of the story that Andy Mott tells the swim team on the bus about his life. When Andy was little his moms boyfriend ruined his memories of childhood. He tied Mott's leg to some type of pipe. Andy got gangrene from awful moment and he had to get he leg cut off. Although after it was cut off, Andy's mom's boyfriend didn't want to be turned in so he gave them enough money to pay for his fake leg.
---Andy also is one of the most courageous people out there. He is always racking up detentions, one after the other. It shows in the book one reason for one of his detentions was at a pep-rally when Mott heard people talking about him, he gave the crowd a double middle finger. This is not the only thing Andy has courageously done let me assure you of that. He is alwas talking and acting where he doesn't care what people think of him and he doesn't care how many detentions he rackes up. At the end of the year Andy gets the award for most courageous and I agree that award fits him well.
---Andy has a mighty sence of humor. He is often making jokes with and about those on the swim team.
---Over all Andy Mott is a very interesting and attention catching character in this story. Although we don't learn all of Andy's backround by reading this book, it is easy to conclude Andy has not had a very easy up bringing and it has taken alot to get Andy where he is today.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Blog 2
---T.J. often steps out of his way for others, especially for Chris Coughlin. Chris has got through a ton in his life. He started of being born addicted to crack cocaine, then his head was wrapped in Saran Wrap by his mom’s boyfriend which gave him permanent brain damage, his brother was killed in a rock climbing accident and if that isn’t enough Chris is constantly being tormented and picked on by Mike Barbour. Now you have to feel bad for Chris, how couldn’t you? Just look at his life, it’s pretty dreadful. Chris really needs a friend, someone to stand up for him, and someone to include him. That someone is T.J.! T.J. frequently steps out of his way to stand up for Chris and to stop Mike Barbour from picking on Chris. He also includes Chris and thinks of him as a friend. When T.J. was recruiting people for the swim team the first person T.J. asked to join was Chris. T.J. also fought for the swim team (especially Chris) to get letter jackets even though he wasn't getting one himself.
---“‘I just wanted to thank you’ she[Chris' aunt] says.
'For what?' [T.J. says]
'You know, for taking my nephew onto your swim team.' She looked tired, and grateful.
I say 'Hey, I need him more than he needs me. He's not going to be a bad little swimmer.'
'He's been in school twelve years' she says. 'This is the first time in eleven years anyone has paid one bit of attention to him, other than to make him drink urine out of a Seven-Up can ... '
I know all the Chris Coughlin stories. His hard times have come at the hands of teachers as well as kids, some of them not nearly as major as the Seven-Up incident, but just as devastating in the long run...
I look at his[Chris] aunt now, standing next to her beat-up Dodge Dart. She looks small and helpless, kicked by the world.
'Really,' I tell her. ' Chris could be a real swimmer if he stays with it.'
She smiles. 'He'll stay with it as long as there's somebody like you to watch over him. He says you're his hero. He'd do anything for you. It's a moment for him. He dosn't get very many moments. I just wanted to thank you.'
Before I can say another word, she is back in the Dart, driving down the road.
Man, what kind of !@#$ed-up world is this? You should have to be a lot more than decent to be a kid's hero."{Crutcher}
*note: []is not in the book it is something i wrote.
*note: ... means I left out some part of the book.
*note: !@#$ is where a swear word was in the book.
-
---In the above passage from Whale Talk you see how much Chris likes T.J. for just being kind or decent as T.J. says. I think thats so cool when I read the part that Chris' aunt says that T.J. is Chris' hero. This part shows me that if your nice and step a little out of your way for someone who doent have a ton of friends that you can make a big difference in there life, and I think that is really cool. This is one of my favorite parts of the story, because it shows what a difference you can make.
---“‘I just wanted to thank you’ she[Chris' aunt] says.
'For what?' [T.J. says]
'You know, for taking my nephew onto your swim team.' She looked tired, and grateful.
I say 'Hey, I need him more than he needs me. He's not going to be a bad little swimmer.'
'He's been in school twelve years' she says. 'This is the first time in eleven years anyone has paid one bit of attention to him, other than to make him drink urine out of a Seven-Up can ... '
I know all the Chris Coughlin stories. His hard times have come at the hands of teachers as well as kids, some of them not nearly as major as the Seven-Up incident, but just as devastating in the long run...
I look at his[Chris] aunt now, standing next to her beat-up Dodge Dart. She looks small and helpless, kicked by the world.
'Really,' I tell her. ' Chris could be a real swimmer if he stays with it.'
She smiles. 'He'll stay with it as long as there's somebody like you to watch over him. He says you're his hero. He'd do anything for you. It's a moment for him. He dosn't get very many moments. I just wanted to thank you.'
Before I can say another word, she is back in the Dart, driving down the road.
Man, what kind of !@#$ed-up world is this? You should have to be a lot more than decent to be a kid's hero."{Crutcher}
*note: []is not in the book it is something i wrote.
*note: ... means I left out some part of the book.
*note: !@#$ is where a swear word was in the book.
-
---In the above passage from Whale Talk you see how much Chris likes T.J. for just being kind or decent as T.J. says. I think thats so cool when I read the part that Chris' aunt says that T.J. is Chris' hero. This part shows me that if your nice and step a little out of your way for someone who doent have a ton of friends that you can make a big difference in there life, and I think that is really cool. This is one of my favorite parts of the story, because it shows what a difference you can make.
Blog 1
---If I were to rate this book 1-10, one being the worst book I’ve read and ten being the best. I would rate it eight, because I thought it was an excellent book. It was not the greatest book I’ve ever read because I’m probably more in to romance books (chick flick books) or books that with more conflicts teenage girls face(like the Diary of a Teenage Girl Series), but it definitely a wonderful book. If I were to have to pick a book that isn’t a “chick flick” book I would choose one just like this. If I were to go back in time and not have this book as an assignment I still would have defiantly read it.
---One thing I didn't like about this book was all the swearing I got really tired of T.J. and all the other characters swearing I really think this book could have done without the swearing. In the part where Heidi and T.J. meet I think Heidi's swearing when she was imitating her father may have added affect but other than that I don't think the swearing was needed at all. This is one thing I didn't like about the book
---I love the conflicts between Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour against T.J. Jones and Chris Coughlin. They make the book so so much deeper. These conflicts are very real and miserable but they really touched by heart and made me really sad, especially the argument over Heidi. Rich Marshall is like the worst father ever, I mean seriously I felt so bad for Heidi. How could Rich be so stupid? Heidi didn’t do anything wrong. Rich beat up his own stepdaughter for being black, and then he didn’t even stop there he told her that she could scrub off her skin color if she scrubbed hard enough so guest what she did only her skin didn’t turn white it turned red from the blood, because Rich told her to use a Brillo pad. Urrrggg, he makes me so mad, why would he tell her to do that. He makes so mad. I totally understand how T.J. feels about this situation. Didn’t it make you so depressed to learn what happed to Heidi when you read the book? Rich was the worst character although Mike Barbour war the next worst. Mike would hit his girlfriend, and when she would run away from him he’d come up to her and tell her how sorry he was and they’d get back together and the same thing would happen again and again like a cycle until near the end of the book Kristen learned her lesson and left him for good and she started dating Tay-Roy. Tay- Roy was super sweet to her and they make such a better couple.
---On the opposite end of the mean/nice scale is Georgia. She is super sweet and compassionate. Georgia is a psychiatrist type person for kids. She is always helping and caring for these kids. T.J. used to be a kid in one of Georgia’s counseling sessions but when he had gotten older he and Georgia were friends so he still comes and visits her once and a while. Georgia’s house is where T.J. met Heidi. When he met Heidi she was in the middle of a therapy session working out her anger and fear of her step-father. It is really too bad that Alicia(Heidi’s mom) didn’t stay with Willis because he would have been such a better dad to Heidi than Rich. If only Willis wouldn’t have got paralyzed because then he wouldn’t have ran away and then he and Alicia would have gotten married and Heidi never would have been abused and she would have had such a better life.
---I would totaly and completly recomend this book to any teen. It is a wonderful book and almost every teen would enjoy this book. Although I do send out a caution if you are against reading books with swearing because there is swearing in this book, but I don't like swearing in books and I still though this book was excellent.
---One thing I didn't like about this book was all the swearing I got really tired of T.J. and all the other characters swearing I really think this book could have done without the swearing. In the part where Heidi and T.J. meet I think Heidi's swearing when she was imitating her father may have added affect but other than that I don't think the swearing was needed at all. This is one thing I didn't like about the book
---I love the conflicts between Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour against T.J. Jones and Chris Coughlin. They make the book so so much deeper. These conflicts are very real and miserable but they really touched by heart and made me really sad, especially the argument over Heidi. Rich Marshall is like the worst father ever, I mean seriously I felt so bad for Heidi. How could Rich be so stupid? Heidi didn’t do anything wrong. Rich beat up his own stepdaughter for being black, and then he didn’t even stop there he told her that she could scrub off her skin color if she scrubbed hard enough so guest what she did only her skin didn’t turn white it turned red from the blood, because Rich told her to use a Brillo pad. Urrrggg, he makes me so mad, why would he tell her to do that. He makes so mad. I totally understand how T.J. feels about this situation. Didn’t it make you so depressed to learn what happed to Heidi when you read the book? Rich was the worst character although Mike Barbour war the next worst. Mike would hit his girlfriend, and when she would run away from him he’d come up to her and tell her how sorry he was and they’d get back together and the same thing would happen again and again like a cycle until near the end of the book Kristen learned her lesson and left him for good and she started dating Tay-Roy. Tay- Roy was super sweet to her and they make such a better couple.
---On the opposite end of the mean/nice scale is Georgia. She is super sweet and compassionate. Georgia is a psychiatrist type person for kids. She is always helping and caring for these kids. T.J. used to be a kid in one of Georgia’s counseling sessions but when he had gotten older he and Georgia were friends so he still comes and visits her once and a while. Georgia’s house is where T.J. met Heidi. When he met Heidi she was in the middle of a therapy session working out her anger and fear of her step-father. It is really too bad that Alicia(Heidi’s mom) didn’t stay with Willis because he would have been such a better dad to Heidi than Rich. If only Willis wouldn’t have got paralyzed because then he wouldn’t have ran away and then he and Alicia would have gotten married and Heidi never would have been abused and she would have had such a better life.
---I would totaly and completly recomend this book to any teen. It is a wonderful book and almost every teen would enjoy this book. Although I do send out a caution if you are against reading books with swearing because there is swearing in this book, but I don't like swearing in books and I still though this book was excellent.
Work Cited Page
Work Cited
1. Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk. New York, New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2001.
2. "Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others." CNN.com. 12 Dec. 2006. Online. Internet. 16 Jan. 2008. Avalible:http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/racism.poll/index.html
3. Sweeney, Torin. Racism still a problem in U.S. Online. Internet. 16 Jan. 2008. Available: http://media.www.temple-news.com/media/storage/paper143/news/2004/03/18/Opinion/Racism.Still.A.Problem.In.U.s-636257.shtml
1. Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk. New York, New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2001.
2. "Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others." CNN.com. 12 Dec. 2006. Online. Internet. 16 Jan. 2008. Avalible:http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/racism.poll/index.html
3. Sweeney, Torin. Racism still a problem in U.S. Online. Internet. 16 Jan. 2008. Available: http://media.www.temple-news.com/media/storage/paper143/news/2004/03/18/Opinion/Racism.Still.A.Problem.In.U.s-636257.shtml
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Racism
Racism
Racism has affected many major events in history such as slavery,World War II, the Civil War, and Sept. 11. Racism has been going on long before any of us were alive and before any of the above events happened.
Racism has affected many major events in history such as slavery,World War II, the Civil War, and Sept. 11. Racism has been going on long before any of us were alive and before any of the above events happened.
Over to the side a poll was taken in 2006, of how many people think racism is a problem. Racism is a problem, even more serious than the graph shows. Many people think that racism is over with and that would be very nice if that were true, but unfortunately it's not. As demonstrated in the book Whale Talk, and in reality, you see that racism is not over.Although many people think that during the 1960's as Martin Luther King Jr. was making his famous 'I Have a Dream' speach, the issue of racism disappeared from our society, this is not true. Some people may think racism does not effect the community they live in but it does. As Torin Sweeney pointed out 'You can even find it in the places you'd least expect, like among your friends and family'. Once we realize that rasim is STILL a problem, the next step is to solving it. We need to reach out and be encouraging to anyone and everyone, no matter what color of skin. We need to close the gap of space that racism have left between us and others with different skin colors and backrounds. Over all we need to stop racism.
6+1 Traits of Writing Evaluation
Chris Crutcher is the author of the novel Whale Talk. He does an excellent job of including the six plus one traits of writing.
First of all, Chris Crutcher does a great job making his ideas clear and understandable. There was only one part of the whole book that I had a some trouble understanding and that was the first time he talked about Carly, I thought it was hard to understand if she and T.J. were together or not. Other than this one small event I thought he his ideas were very understandable.
Secondly, I really liked the way he organized the events in the story. I think this trait he does wonderfully becuase its clear and easy to understand. Chris starts out in the present and has T.J. telling the stoty from begging to end, clear and simple.
His sentences flow well together. I think Chris Crutcher did well with sentence fluency. Also his convections are all correct. I did'nt notice a time when the were wrong.
I would agree that he is the best at the voice trait because each character takes on his/her own personal voice and attitude. An example is how he can take on the voice of the kind and caring counsler Georgia to the agressive and couagious Andy Mott to the sweet precious little Heidi to the awful, evil, and atrocious Rich Marshall.
Chris Crutchers next best at word choice. He uses great words to describe what he is talking about like on page 44 T.J. says "My yell ricochets off the walls like a bullet fired into a stainless-steal freezer."
First of all, Chris Crutcher does a great job making his ideas clear and understandable. There was only one part of the whole book that I had a some trouble understanding and that was the first time he talked about Carly, I thought it was hard to understand if she and T.J. were together or not. Other than this one small event I thought he his ideas were very understandable.
Secondly, I really liked the way he organized the events in the story. I think this trait he does wonderfully becuase its clear and easy to understand. Chris starts out in the present and has T.J. telling the stoty from begging to end, clear and simple.
His sentences flow well together. I think Chris Crutcher did well with sentence fluency. Also his convections are all correct. I did'nt notice a time when the were wrong.
I would agree that he is the best at the voice trait because each character takes on his/her own personal voice and attitude. An example is how he can take on the voice of the kind and caring counsler Georgia to the agressive and couagious Andy Mott to the sweet precious little Heidi to the awful, evil, and atrocious Rich Marshall.
Chris Crutchers next best at word choice. He uses great words to describe what he is talking about like on page 44 T.J. says "My yell ricochets off the walls like a bullet fired into a stainless-steal freezer."
Lastly the presentation is very perfesional and neat. Although I think it may be a little confusing if the kid on the front of the book is Chris Coughlin or someone else, but I'm not sure who else the kid could be because it's not T.J. because the boy on the cover is not black.
Chris does an amazing job at including these traits into the book Whale Talk.
Novel Description
Plot Summary
T.J. Jones is with Mr. Simet one day and Mr. Simet asks T.J. to join the first swim team at Cutter High, because he is coaching it. T.J. says no at first but then he is pressured in to it by Mr. Simet. T.J. is also put in charge of requiting people to the swim team. When T.J. walks into the hallway he sees Barbour picking on Chris so he heads over there and tells Mike to knock it off, and tells Chris not to let guys like that bother him. T.J. is often saving Chris from Mike Babour. Later on T.J. asks Chris to join the swim team, and Chris agrees. Then T.J. puts out flyers and tells people about it until he has enough people for a swim team. When T.J. starts to work out at All Night Fitness. He sees a guy sleeping there. The guy wakes up and tells him his name is Oliver and Oliver tells T.J. his story of how he works a ton of full time jobs and how he couldn't pay for his house because he needed to put his son through college. T.J. agreed not to tell on him to All Night Fitness. Later on at the swim teams practice Oliver started being the assistant coach. Oliver, later on, got the nickname icko. Then icko started taking drivers-ed two so he could drive the bus for the swim team when they go to meets. On the bus on the way back from the swim meets the swim teem really opens up to each other. Andy tells the story of his leg. Chris talks about Brian. Dan works on having a regular vocab. And everyone listens to each other open up. This is a really important time for the swim team to bond.
One day T.J. went to visit Georgia. Georgia had another kid over for a therapy session. It was a little five year old, black girl, named Heidi. Heidi was abused by Rich (her step-dad). This made T.J. really annoyed and mad at Rich. Heidi and T.J. really got along well. A few days later Georgia called T.J. to ask him if Heidi could live at his house for a while. T.J. asked his parents and they said yes, so Heidi started staying at T.J.'s houses. Then Alicia and the twins (Heidi's mom and brother) joined Heidi and T.J.'s house. Rich Marshall started stocking the house.
Meanwhile at school T.J. was fighting for the right of the swim team getting letter jackets. At the last meet of the year for the whole team Jackie, who never talks, started crying and said who much he was going to miss the swim team. Everyone else agreed also so they decided that they would try other sports together. On the very last meet that only T.J. went to, he did super good on the first two races and he only had one left but he realized that Cutter High was way too competitive and so he decided to instead of trying his hardest and getting a ton of points for Cutter High he swam super slow and easily. Then back at school T.J. and the lettering board people had a huge discussion about if the team got letter jackets. The swim team won and everyone but T.J. lettered. Then the swim team decided to start a basketball team for Hoopfest. When their team was playing against Rich and Mike's team. T.J.'s team won. Rich got mad and got out a gun. He aimed for his step-daughter Heidi, But T.J.'s dad jumped in the way and was hit, and died. T.J., at the end of the book, meets his step-brother that he never knew about and neither did their dad. Kyle Couples and T.J. decided to get to know each other over the summer.
Setting
The Novel Whale Talk takes place in Washington, United States (Although they travel to other states for swim meets). More specifically in Cutter High School, T.J.'s house, Georgia's house, Marshall Logging, All Night Fitness, the school bus, other schools(for swim meets), etc.
Character Description and Development
T.J. Jones- T.J.is the main character in this book. His real name is The Tao(pronounced Dow) Jones, but he just goes by T.J. T.J. was adopted when he was very young, and he doesn't even remember his original parents. His ethnicity is African, Japanese, and European. T.J. is a very caring character. He is usually very kind and gentle accept when it comes to Mike Barbour and Rich Marshall.
Rich Marshall-Rich is an awful, disgusting character. He is Alicia's husband, Heidi's step-dad, and the Twins dad. Rich is extremely racist, and takes out all of his anger on poor Heidi. He is abusive and super, super mean.
Mr. Simet- Mr. Simet is the swim team's coach and a teacher at Cutter High. He is also a friend to T.J. Mr. Simet is a very good swim coach and he is very kind, and caring.
Glenda- Glenda is T.J.'s biological mother. T.J. was adopted young and he doesn't even really remember Glenda.
T.J.'s mom- T.J.'s mom is a super kind lady. She works as a lawyer for child abuse. She is very compassionate towards children and is very caring.
T.J.'s dad- T.J.'s dad is also very kind. He used to work for a delivery company. On day he was at a town delivering something but he saw a young widow he decided he'd be staying a little longer than he'd thought. When he left he forgot to check under his triers, and a while later he realized that the widow's young child had gotten caught under his tiers and he ran over him. For the rest of his life he would never forget that moment and from then on he spent the rest of his life helping kids when ever he got the chance. Then he got married to T.J.'s adoptive mother.
Kyle Couples- Kyle is T.J.'s step brother that he never knew about and neither did his dad. Kyle was the widow's and T.J.'s dad's kid that his dad never knew about. At the end T.J. and Kyle meet for the first time and as the book ends it sounds like they will get to know eachother pretty well.
T.J. Jones is with Mr. Simet one day and Mr. Simet asks T.J. to join the first swim team at Cutter High, because he is coaching it. T.J. says no at first but then he is pressured in to it by Mr. Simet. T.J. is also put in charge of requiting people to the swim team. When T.J. walks into the hallway he sees Barbour picking on Chris so he heads over there and tells Mike to knock it off, and tells Chris not to let guys like that bother him. T.J. is often saving Chris from Mike Babour. Later on T.J. asks Chris to join the swim team, and Chris agrees. Then T.J. puts out flyers and tells people about it until he has enough people for a swim team. When T.J. starts to work out at All Night Fitness. He sees a guy sleeping there. The guy wakes up and tells him his name is Oliver and Oliver tells T.J. his story of how he works a ton of full time jobs and how he couldn't pay for his house because he needed to put his son through college. T.J. agreed not to tell on him to All Night Fitness. Later on at the swim teams practice Oliver started being the assistant coach. Oliver, later on, got the nickname icko. Then icko started taking drivers-ed two so he could drive the bus for the swim team when they go to meets. On the bus on the way back from the swim meets the swim teem really opens up to each other. Andy tells the story of his leg. Chris talks about Brian. Dan works on having a regular vocab. And everyone listens to each other open up. This is a really important time for the swim team to bond.
One day T.J. went to visit Georgia. Georgia had another kid over for a therapy session. It was a little five year old, black girl, named Heidi. Heidi was abused by Rich (her step-dad). This made T.J. really annoyed and mad at Rich. Heidi and T.J. really got along well. A few days later Georgia called T.J. to ask him if Heidi could live at his house for a while. T.J. asked his parents and they said yes, so Heidi started staying at T.J.'s houses. Then Alicia and the twins (Heidi's mom and brother) joined Heidi and T.J.'s house. Rich Marshall started stocking the house.
Meanwhile at school T.J. was fighting for the right of the swim team getting letter jackets. At the last meet of the year for the whole team Jackie, who never talks, started crying and said who much he was going to miss the swim team. Everyone else agreed also so they decided that they would try other sports together. On the very last meet that only T.J. went to, he did super good on the first two races and he only had one left but he realized that Cutter High was way too competitive and so he decided to instead of trying his hardest and getting a ton of points for Cutter High he swam super slow and easily. Then back at school T.J. and the lettering board people had a huge discussion about if the team got letter jackets. The swim team won and everyone but T.J. lettered. Then the swim team decided to start a basketball team for Hoopfest. When their team was playing against Rich and Mike's team. T.J.'s team won. Rich got mad and got out a gun. He aimed for his step-daughter Heidi, But T.J.'s dad jumped in the way and was hit, and died. T.J., at the end of the book, meets his step-brother that he never knew about and neither did their dad. Kyle Couples and T.J. decided to get to know each other over the summer.
Setting
The Novel Whale Talk takes place in Washington, United States (Although they travel to other states for swim meets). More specifically in Cutter High School, T.J.'s house, Georgia's house, Marshall Logging, All Night Fitness, the school bus, other schools(for swim meets), etc.
Character Description and Development
T.J. Jones- T.J.is the main character in this book. His real name is The Tao(pronounced Dow) Jones, but he just goes by T.J. T.J. was adopted when he was very young, and he doesn't even remember his original parents. His ethnicity is African, Japanese, and European. T.J. is a very caring character. He is usually very kind and gentle accept when it comes to Mike Barbour and Rich Marshall.
Rich Marshall-Rich is an awful, disgusting character. He is Alicia's husband, Heidi's step-dad, and the Twins dad. Rich is extremely racist, and takes out all of his anger on poor Heidi. He is abusive and super, super mean.
Heidi- Heidi Marshall is a very sweet little five year old girl. Heidi is black. Her biological father Willis was also black, but he left and now Rich is her step father. Heidi is beaten by Rich for not doing any thing at all. If she forgets to clean out the dogs dish or spills something on the ground, she gets so many beatings for each one of these. Poor little Heidi has no way to escape this awful way of life until she is put into T.J.'s home. Then everything changes she gets tons of good attention and everyone loves her. ---Only until Alicia took her kids over to see Rich and he told her to scrub off her skin color with a type of metal scrubbing thing. Of course Heidi thinks he is right and she scrubs off her skin until blood is everywhere.---Heidi is a very sweet little five year old girl.
Alicia Marshall- Alicia is Rich's wife. Alicia dated Rich is high school. Then when she was in college she fell in love with a black man named Willis. They had Heidi and then they were planning on getting married until Willis got in a car accident and was paralyzed. Willis didn't think that it was right for Alicia and Heidi to have to put up with his disability so he left them. Alicia got a job at a store that happened to be owned by Rich and he convinced her to get married to him. After they got married, they had the twins. The twins sound like they are very spoiled by Rich. Heidi on the other hand is a reject.
The Twins- The book never actually says there names (or not that I can remember). The twins are Alicia and Rich's. They are favored very much by Rich. We don't know much more about the twins.
Willis- Willis was Alicia's original huband who got paralized and ran (not litteraly) away.
Icko-Icko or Oliver lives at All Night Fitness. He works a ton of jobs, and the reason why he lives at All Night Fitness is because he wanted to put his son through college. Oliver is also the swim teams assistant coach. Icko is a nickname the swim team gave to Oliver.
Mike Barbour- Mike is another very mean character. He is very good friends with Rich. For fun he picks on Chris and hits his girlfriend, Kristen. Mike is enemies with T.J. because T.J. stands up for both Chris and Kristen. There are many conflicts that occur between T.J. and Mike. Mike is a very mean character.
Kristen Sweetwater-Kristen used to be Mike's girlfriend until He started hitting her. Then Tay-Roy really liked Kristen and then Kristen and Tay-Roy started out and they were a much better couple. Kristen is also a good friend of Carly's.
Tay-Roy-Tay-Roy is a really great character. Tay-roy is a very muscular member of the swim team. Tay-Roy is super sweet and caring, and I'm sure Kristen is really Glad to have him for a boyfriend.
Dan Hole- Dan is another very interesting character. Dan has an amazing vocabulary. He is always using humongous words to describe anything he talks about. The swim team came up with a plan to get Dan to talk regularly... Anytime Dan says a word that Icko doesn't understand he has to do ten push-ups. Dan is a very unique and fun character who adds a lot to this movie.
Simon- Simon is on the swim team. Simon is very large. This is a very big disadvantage for him in swimming. Over all Simon is a very kind and compassionate character.
Jackie Craig- Jackie is another member of the swim team. In the first 9/10th's of the book Jackie says a total of about 2 sentences. Then at the last race of the year Jackie starts crying. No-one knows why until Jackie starts talking and says how much he's gonna miss being on the swim team. Everyone on the team feels the exact same as Jackie and they totally agree and relate to him and his conession.
Chris Coughlin- Chris is a reject from Cutter High. Chris was born addicted to crack cocaine and it doesn't help the when he was only one year old he wouldn't stop crying, so his mom's boyfriend took Saran Wrap and wrapped it abound Chris' head and not only did it stop Chris from crying but it also gave him permanent brain damage. At that point in Chris' life his aunt and uncle became his guardians. Unfortunately Chris is often the victim of Mike Barbour when he feels the need to pick on someone. Most of the time Barbour is bothering Chris about wearing his brothers letter Jacket. Chris' older half brother Brian was and all-star sport guy. He was always there when Chris was being picked on, until Brian got stuck in a rock climbing accident and died. Luckily T.J. comes to Chris' rescue as much as he can, but that's not often enough to stop the persecution that comes flying at Chris. T.J. invites Chris be a member of the swim team, and Chris happily agrees. As you might have noticed most of the events in Chris' life happen to be pretty disastrous until T.J. comes along.
Andy Mott- Andy is a very courageous character. Andy is very outgoing to everyone. He also gets tons of detentions for is courageousness. When Andy was young he was molested by his mom's boyfriend. Also his mom's boyfriend tied his leg to a pipe under the sink. Andy got gangrene and had to get his leg removed. Now he has a fake leg and a disadvantage to the swim team. Andy is a very flavorful and fun character.
Carly-Carly is T.J.'s girlfriend. She and him get along well and that's about all we know about Carly.Mr. Simet- Mr. Simet is the swim team's coach and a teacher at Cutter High. He is also a friend to T.J. Mr. Simet is a very good swim coach and he is very kind, and caring.
Glenda- Glenda is T.J.'s biological mother. T.J. was adopted young and he doesn't even really remember Glenda.
T.J.'s mom- T.J.'s mom is a super kind lady. She works as a lawyer for child abuse. She is very compassionate towards children and is very caring.
T.J.'s dad- T.J.'s dad is also very kind. He used to work for a delivery company. On day he was at a town delivering something but he saw a young widow he decided he'd be staying a little longer than he'd thought. When he left he forgot to check under his triers, and a while later he realized that the widow's young child had gotten caught under his tiers and he ran over him. For the rest of his life he would never forget that moment and from then on he spent the rest of his life helping kids when ever he got the chance. Then he got married to T.J.'s adoptive mother.
Kyle Couples- Kyle is T.J.'s step brother that he never knew about and neither did his dad. Kyle was the widow's and T.J.'s dad's kid that his dad never knew about. At the end T.J. and Kyle meet for the first time and as the book ends it sounds like they will get to know eachother pretty well.
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