Sometimes A Book Is Better Than It

So You Didn’t Tell Me It Was A Messed-up Idea To Keep This All A Secret Because. . .” “because Experience Is The Only Teacher,” Hey-soos Says. “even If I Could Have Told You, It Would Have Been A Lecture. Why Do You Think Kids Don’t Listen To Their Parents, Or People Don’t Leave Churches And Do What The Preacher Tells Them? There’s Only One Thing That’s Universal.” “what’s That?” “the Truth.

I Think The Value In Books Like Mine, And A Great Number By Other Talented Writers, Is In The Ability To Bring Dark Subjects Into The Open Where They Are Not So Dark, Where They Can Be Talked About And Considered By Teens And Adults Alike.

Certainly Working With Teens Keeps Me Up To Date With Language And With Certain Kinds Of Thinking. I Often Feel Like I Have To Go Back To That 17-year-old Chris Crutcher, And That Forms The Core Voice. I Can Draw On Teens From 1964 To 2001 To Find A Part Of The Voice I Need.

I Have Made A Career Of Creating Characters Who Fight School Authority And Chomp At The Bit To Get Out Into The 'real' World And Live Their Lives, Mostly Because That's The Kind Of Teenager I Was.

...we Can Say We Love Each Other If My Life Is Better Because You're In It And Your Life Is Better Because I'm In It.