Summary

Willie Weaver a high school baseball all star. Is known around his small town in Montana as a baseball legend. playing in the American Legion Baseball Championship. Willie is a pitcher against a team sponsored by the Crazy Horse Electric. He carries his team to an outstanding victory and is known as a hero. Until after, Willie is in a water skiing accident. Willie is now injured and partially paralyzed. He has a hard time understanding he can't play baseball anymore. Also with his parents having marriage problems. Willie catches a bus and runs away from home and ends up in Oakland, California. There he gets beaten by a gang while exploring Oakland. Willie then gets help and joins a school for the handicap. He regains his strength mentally and physically. When he returns to Montana, his parents are divorced. Now Willie has nothing and will have to rebuild a new life for himself.

Characters

Willie Weaver- An all star baseball pitcher. Who is a small town hero and a legend. Until a water skiing accident leaves him paralyzed. Through out the book he learns very valuable lessons on life. His parents become divorced and he ends the book with nothing. Now he has to write his own.

Big Will- Willie`s Dad who was an all star athlete himself. He is very strict on Willie with sports. That he has to practice to win. Big Will gained his fame by winning the Rose Bowl for The University of Washington. He ends up divorcing his wife and becoming an alcoholic by the end of the book.

Quote

Sandy says, "No, you don`t always get what you expect"(Crutcher 288).

Sandy, Willie`s mom says this to Willie when he has come home from his life with counseling, school, buses, and gangs in Oakland. Willie is told his parents have now been divorced and Sandy tells him nothing is to be expected in life. Meaning she was expecting to have a golden child and a family because she lost her six month year old daughter before Willie. She wished something or somebody would have told her what was in store for her. She didn`t expect for any of this. She didn`t expect to get a boyfriend right after her divorce with a nice gentleman, who would pull her out of despair.

Theme

When in a difficult task, go with your gut feeling.

When asked to pick a theme that related to the book i think, when in a difficult task, go with your gut feeling, is most appropriate. Through out the whole book Willie shows examples of this. One being, running away from home. At the time it seemed like a crazy and bad thing to do. Later in the book you realized if he would of stayed thing would have gotten a lot worse for him. With his parents divorcement, being paralyzed, and his friends only liked him now because of pity. Another example to support the theme is Willie has the gut feeling after being beaten and robbed by the gang to go to the bus driver and ask for help. Here the driver got him enrolled into a school and helped him get back up onto his feet. For him to return home to Montana.

My Book Review

After reading "The Crazy Horse Electric Game" I would recommend this book to anyone who likes cliff hangers. The book gives a great example of a teenager who faces everyday hardships but severely exaggerated. His life was hard and with the accident he has to work double time or even three times harder to get his life back on track.. If somebody is having a hard time at home or in general this book would be perfect. This book gives tons of themes ans life lessons too.

Children's Literature - Susie Wilde

The author captures the playful side of sports and its sense of timing. Without mincing words, he composes harsh realities with images that sometimes take your breath away-and sometimes make you belly-laugh in astonishment and delight. Willie Weaver is a teenage boy who lives in a nurturing family, has loads of friends and is a perfect athlete. And then comes an water-skiing accident which destroys not only his balance and physical prowess, but his family and his sense of self. Willie flees the scene of his unhappiness and struggles to regain his self-respect and some physical capabilities in tough, street-wise Oakland, California. The story is a poignant telling of courage, the struggle to survive life on all levels, and an examination of values once held dear.

Vocabulary

"Sandy shakes her head, absently kicking sand into the water" (Crutcher 288) Absently- ADV in an absent-minded way; Vaguely

"Then he jerks and lurches for home" (Crutcher 121) Lurches- V make an abrupt, unsteady, uncontrolled movement or series of movements; stagger.

This video is a short interview with Chris Crutcher, about the way he writes and what he faces writing his books and getting his point across.