FOR RELEASE: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Author's Books Hard to Keep on Shelf
Courtesy Fayetteville Public Library
University of Arkansas professor Christian Goering invited booing from the audience when he introduced Chris Crutcher, an author of young adult literature, at the Fayetteville Public Library this summer.
Goering, an assistant professor of secondary English and literacy, told the audience to boo him when he admitted that he doesn't own any of Crutcher's books. Crutcher's fast-paced fiction – heavily influenced by his work as a therapist and child protection advocate – is known for its expert balance of comedy and tragedy, as well as its unflinching honesty and authentic voice. In addition to being honored with dozens of awards and honors, Crutcher was named the sixth most frequently banned author in 2008 by the American Library Association.
Goering explained that he has owned several copies of all of Crutcher's books in past years, but his students and colleagues borrow them and don't return them.
"When you read a Chris Crutcher book, it becomes a part of you," Goering said. "Sometimes, his books save kids' lives because they are real. They take on deadly serious issues that are not otherwise discussed at home or in the classroom. Today, someone you know needs one of his books to help them figure out who they are."
Crutcher came to Fayetteville in June to address the fourth-annual Literacy Symposium sponsored by the department of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education and Health Professions. The Northwest Arkansas Writing Project that Goering directs hosted a reception for Crutcher, and the Fayetteville Public Library co-sponsored a second speaking appearance for Crutcher. The library provided the video footage of Crutcher's talk, which is about 1 hour and 22 minutes long.
Crutcher talked to the library audience about where his stories come from, including experiences while he was teaching at an alternative school in Oakland, Calif., and working as a therapist for families in which abuse and neglect was occurring. He elicited laughter and tears with his funny and poignant stories about children whose stories affected him so much that he based fictional accounts on them.
"When you find a character in a book, I don't care how old we are, when we find a character that touches us, that feels like a friend, it allows for a whole bunch of stuff to happen in our imaginations," Crutcher said.
He talked about why he writes about topics that he knows will cause a book to be challenged and why he uses words he knows will raise objections.
Crutcher told the story of meeting an abused child again several years after working with her, and she asked him to tell her story. The girl told him: "If you stuck my story in a book and somebody reads it and it makes them feel better, we did something good."
"She just described to me what I think literature is really all about, and particularly contemporary literature," Crutcher said he recalled thinking as they parted. "She has just given me a gift that I better treat well."