STOTAN! by Chris Crutcher

Plot Summary:

In the book STOTAN! By Chris Crutcher, we travel through the lives of four swimmers who, attending high school, are also the four boys that make up the swim team at Robert Frost High. When their swimming coach Max suggests that the team signs up for STOTAN! Week, a week he has created for the swimmers the entire first week of Winter Break, they think about it seriously. Not knowing what exactly they’ll be getting there selves into, the whole team signed up, anticipating a grueling workout from their coach. But during STOTAN! Week, the four boys actually become closer emotionally, and begin to share intimate parts of their lives with each other that, after knowing each other since childhood, the four friends still did not know about each other. Through and after the STOTAN! Week, the boys continue to bond, and grow close to each other, revealing many issues such as abuse, racism, sex, drugs, and many issues between, where they both learn more about each other, and more about themselves.

Setting:

The setting of this story is in the North West United States. The team participates in many swimming competitions in and near Billings, Montana, which is their closest opponent.

Character Description/Development:

WALKER- Walker is the main character. He is the one who narrates the story through his ‘journal’. Walker is the team captain, and a true leader. He tries to support all of his teammates and friends in everything that they do, and isn’t shy about trying to be kind. But he also struggles internally with the issues in his life, such as, his brother being a “druggy” and his parents being “old” for the age they had him at.

He develops throughout the book by learning to support his friends no matter what, even if doing that puts him in scary situations, he learns that being honest with people is the best decision, and also he learns that life is too short to dwell on little things.

JEFF- Jeff is the oldest in the group, and also the most mature in some categories. He, at the end of the book, is diagnosed with a blood disease. I think after his history of being a “tough guy” it makes it hard to accept that he is slowly becoming more and more weak. I think that it is especially hard too since he was in the Marines.

He develops by accepting that he will die, and that he is becoming weaker by the day.

NORTIE- Nortie is an insecure senior and a “follower” who is dependant on other people, and he is also a worry-wart. Throughout his life, he has basically been forced to cower away from his father in his own house, which has molded his personality to point of how old he was in the book.

Nortie develops by being able to tell his father “no” basically, and that he can stand up to his father. He also learned that it is good to let things out instead of bottling them up, and that friends can be your chosen family.

LION- Lion is yet again another “tough guy” in this book. His parents died, leaving him enough money to get along through high school alone, and he has his own place. He doesn’t often talk about his parents. He is also the “extreme” one of the group, who is easily empowered and feels strongly about an issue once he is empowered. Lion is also not afraid of setting his own trends.

Lion develops throughout the story by having to deal with his parent’s death, and also addressing (in a very drastic way) the issues of racism presented in the school.