2003
There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway. A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J. is convinced that a varsity letter jacket--unattainable for most, exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as T. J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High--will be an effective carving tool. He's right. He's also wrong.Still, it's always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen travel to swim meets--piloted by Icko, the permanent resident of All Night Fitness--soon becomes the cocoon inside which they gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to bloom.
Chris Crutcher is in top form with a cast of characters--adults, children, and teenagers--fighting for dignity in a world where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, where a moment's inattention can bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription for what ails us.
Awards
2005 ALA Popular Paperbacks for YA
2002 ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award
2002 Washington State Book Award
2002 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award
2002 Outstanding Sports Book Award/YA
ALA Best Book for YA
TLA Tayshas List
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
ALA Top 10 Best Books for YA
Book Sense 76 Pick
Nominee 2003-2004 Kentucky Bluegrass Award
Nominee 2003-2004 Iowa High School Book Award
Nominee 2003-2004 South Carolina YA Book Award
Nominee 2004 Nevada Young Reader Award
Nominee Garden State Teen Book Award
Nominee 2004 Pacific Northwest Young Reader Choice Award
Nominee 2003-2004 Virginia Young Reader's Program
Nominee 2003-2004 California Young Reader Medal
Nominee 2003 Heartland Award
Nominee 2003-2004 ILF Rosie
Nominee 2003 Missouri Gateway Award
Nominee 2003 Pennsylvania Readers Choice
Nominee 2003 Volunteer State Book Award
Nominee 2003 Soaring Eagle Wyoming Young Adult Book Award
Nominee 2002 Rhode Island Teen Book Awards
Nominee 2002 Maryland's Black-Eyed Susan Award
Nominee 2002 Colorado Blue Spruce Award
