Background Information

The book Stotan! by Chris Crutcher, was about four teenage boys and one girl. They are all in highschool and love to swim. It's about all the difficulties they must face throughout their senior year. Some of the problems are death, racism, abuse, drugs, and relationship problems.

The four boys, Lion, Jeff, Walker, and Nortie, are on their high school football team . They decide to sign up for a week of workout over Christmas break. It's called Stotan Week. They don't know what they're getting into. It's hard, but they learn a lot in the end.

This book takes place in the North West United States. I'm not sure what year, but I'm thinking somewhere between 1960 and 1980. They talk a lot about hippies, so I'm guessing somewhere in that time frame.

Walker is the main character. He has a few problems, but they're mostly ones he brings upon himself. His main problem is that he has a girlfriend, and he doesn't really like her, but doesn't have the guts to break up with her. He also has a huge crush on his best girl friend, but she has a boyfriend. She also only sees him as a friend. At the end of the book he realizes that living a lie isn't worth it. So he makes up his mind to break up with her, and get things straightened out.

Jeff has just one problem really. That problem is that he has a deadly blood disease. He has everything in the world going for him though! He's athletic, smart, and has an older girlfriend. But he's watching himself die, and can't do anything about it. Except let people know what he's learned, so they have some advice for the future.

Lion also only has one problem. That problem is his anger. He has very strong opinions and is willing to fight for them, but sometimes he lets his anger get the best of him. He threatens people a lot, and gets really anger about racism. But towards the end of the book he tries to put his anger towards his swimming.

Nortie definitely has his fair share of problems. His first problem would be the fact that he’s abused by his Dad. His Dad gets very angry and hurts not only Nortie, but also Nortie’s Mom. Nortie also had his brother commit suicide, because he didn’t think his life was worth living. Also he has a black girlfriend (he’s white) and it seems that many people don’t like that. His Dad finds out and hurts Nortie for it. Then Nortie is wandering around, and runs into Walker’s brother. Walker’s brother gives him some drugs, and tells him it’ll make him feel better. Nortie takes them, because he’s really out of it from being hit by his Dad. Later Nortie decides that this life isn’t worth living, so he moves in with Walker.