![\"Ironman\"](\"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ironman.jpg\")
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Chris Crutcher is most definitely one of my all-time favorite YA authors.\u00a0 Not only is he not afraid to tell it like it is in his books, but he also tells it like it is in the “real world” via Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and his blog, Stotan Unplugged<\/a>. \u00a0No matter how controversial a topic may be, he doesn’t feel the need to censor himself. \u00a0He believes (and I fervently agree) that teens should not be sheltered from the harsh realities of the world. \u00a0If teens have the potential to “live” something, who are we to tell them they shouldn’t “read” about it?\u00a0 Sadly, I don’t have a review for the first Chris Crutcher book I read — Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes<\/em> — because I read it before I started this blog.\u00a0 But, I have reviews for several other books that I’ve read since then (Angry Management<\/a>, Deadline<\/a>, King of the Mild Frontier<\/a>, Period 8<\/a>)\u00a0if you are not familiar with his books and would like a little primer. \u00a0I have no idea how I managed to work nearly\u00a0ten years as a Tween & Teen librarian before reading Ironman<\/em> (and without yet reading Whale Talk<\/em> and Stotan!<\/em>), but I suppose I just need to pace myself and I will get there.<\/p>\n Ironman<\/em> is the story of a seventeen-year-old guy named Beauregard Brewster (a.k.a. Bo) who is training for a triathlon.\u00a0 Balancing home life, school work, and training would be challenging enough for most teens, but Bo also has to deal with a father who constantly belittles him and even schemes to try and make him lose that race.\u00a0 Many times, teens who experience problems at home find that school is a safe haven, but Bo has issues with his English teacher and former football coach, Coach Redmond, as well.\u00a0 Fortunately, he has a couple of adults in his life who actually have his best interests in mind — Mr. Serbousek, who teaches Bo’s journalism class and also coaches him in swimming, and Mr. Nakatani (aka Mr. Nak), who runs the anger management group Bo has to attend in order to avoid a suspension over an argument with Coach Redmond.\u00a0 While it can be depressing to read about the (based-on-reality) terrible parents that some kids have to deal with, books like this also serve as a beacon of hope for teens who are living through similarly terrible situations. \u00a0Whether it’s just realizing that their situation is not unique or finding hope that the situation can actually get better, albeit with lots of time and plenty of work, books like this definitely matter to teens.\u00a0 Here’s to hoping you only need this book to make you aware of other people’s problems…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chris Crutcher is most definitely one of my all-time favorite YA authors.\u00a0 Not only is he not afraid to tell it like it is in his books, but he also tells it like it is in the “real world” via Facebook, Twitter, and his blog, Stotan Unplugged. \u00a0No matter how controversial a topic may be, … Continue reading Ironman by Chris Crutcher<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-books-for-young-adults","category-fiction","category-reviewed-by-chrissie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}