Crash

= = //Crash//, Jerry Spinelli, Knopf, 1996, 162 pages.

//Crash// tells the story of John "Crash" Coogan. Everybody calls him Crash, even his family, and they have since he was a baby. He got the name Crash after he got his first football helmet for Christmas and plowed through his cousin, Bridget. The name seems to fit him well though as he says on the first page of the book, "I’ve always been crashing—into people, into things, you name it, with or without a helmet".
 * Synopsis:**

//Crash// begins with Crash’s dorky new neighbor, Penn Webb, moving in down the street in first grade. Webb is the total opposite of Crash. He doesn’t eat meat or fight, even when being teased, two things that Crash loves to do. Crash is pretty confused by Webb’s behavior and ends up playing a few tricks on him and his family before he’s gives up and leaves them alone. In 6th grade, another new kid moves to Crash’s block, but this kid, Mike Deluca, is a lot more like Crash. Mike plays football, eats meat, wears nice clothes and likes to play tricks on Webb. Crash and Mike are immediately best friends.

Most of //Crash// takes place in Crash’s year in 7th grade. Crash is awesome at football and popular with everyone in school, except the new girl, Jane Forbes, who is not impressed with Crash’s attitude or popularity. Throughout the year, Crash struggles to impress Jane, his parents, his team and his friends. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to win at everything he does, but something changes in him during this year and makes him question—Is winning really everything?

This is a great story about the pressures we put on ourselves to succeed. Crash isn’t pressured by anyone but himself to win at everything, but he feels like he has to live up to his name. I think a lot of adolescents, especially boys, can relate to Crash and his desire to have the right clothes, act the right way and be popular. I’m not sure how many girls would relate to this book, but I’m sure some could relate to Jane Forbes and the attention she receives and how she refuses to follow the crowd.
 * Evaluation:**

Spinelli shows a good balance in this novel. He takes time to develop depth in Crash and Webb, but still allows the reader to get to know the minor characters of Mike, Jane, and Crash’s family. He presents situations that every middle school boy would face and uses Crash and Webb to show how it feels to be on the other side. Spinelli seems to have faith in Crash as he grows throughout the book. He shows that adolescents can be challenged and changed in just a few short months and that adolescents can make decisions for themselves.
 * Author’s View of Adolescents and Society:**

I would recommend this book to many middle school students and even lower high school students. I think this would be a great book for boys, student athletes, popular kids and the not-so-popular kids. There are so many facets and dimensional characters in this book that very few students wouldn’t be able to relate—even if they aren’t like one of the characters, they’ve all seen these characters at their school.
 * Recommendation:**