Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

"Athletic Shorts" by Chris Crutcher is a collection of short stories that fall under the young adult realistic fiction genre. This book's stories deal with themes relevant to young adults, such as sports, family, friendship, and social issues.

I found "Athletic Shorts" to be an engaging and thought-provoking read. The stories are well-written and explore complex themes in a way that is accessible to young adult readers. The characters are relatable and diverse, and their struggles and triumphs will resonate with many readers of the book.

I would recommend "Athletic Shorts" to anyone who enjoys young adult fiction or is looking for a book that explores important themes relatable and engagingly. The book would be particularly appealing to readers who enjoy sports or have an interest in social issues. Some of my favourite stories from the book include "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" and "The Other Pin." Overall, "Athletic Shorts" is a well-crafted collection of stories that are definitely worth a read. (Oliver, Grade 8)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 2/5

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher was a realistic fiction book based on events that could have happened. One thing I really like about this book is that it showed stories of people who had problems (whether in their families or themselves in general). It showed how these problems happen and not many people would seem to care, it expressed the feelings these people felt when dealing with their problems. I really like how it incorporated things that seem wired to us, and how we view these things as bad or as just gross, with the fact that the people dealing with them are just like us, in a sense of they are human. I would not recommend this book to anyone that does not like the use of foul language. As this book heavily used it. This book is more on the mature side and I would recommend it to anyone who loves books that incorporates realistic events that seem weird to us but could happen. (Kai, Grade 7)

Rating: 3/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 2/5

The book I read is called “Athletic shorts * Six short stories”. It is a book by Chris Crutcher. The genre of this book is a young adult novel and I gave it a ⅗ on difficulty and ⅘ as an overall rating.

This book focused on the themes of sports. With six different stories, every single one of them explores the life of a young adult that is facing several step-backs related to sports such as love, death conflicts, family, and friendship … I really liked this book since it is a book that people can relate to, especially people that are still in school.

(Alexis. Grade 8)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 3/5

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher is a realistic fiction novel that consists of six short stories. The novel is about six different athletes and the struggles and difficulties they face competing in each of their sports, and how they overcome these challenges. Despite enjoying how each story conveyed a different message, I didn’t enjoy reading it. It was quite confusing in terms of storyline and difficult to follow what was going on. In addition, some of the content was quite disturbing and uncomfortable for me to read. Some of the themes revolving around abusive parents, and racism could be triggering for some readers. Ultimately, this book is for you if you like short stories about the challenges of sports and aren’t afraid of getting into darker subject matter. However, do keep in mind that the book does contain some inappropriate language and content.  (Seoyeon. Grade 8)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 3/5

“Athletic Shorts” by Chris Crutcher is a short novel and has six short stories included. The novel tells us about six different athletes with different sports they compete in. The short stories don’t only tell us about sports, but situations/problems these athletes have with their life; either having abusive parents, experiencing racism, gender inequality, and more. I liked how the book was fast-paced and how each story conveys a different message. The novel has a genre of action due to the athletic sports included, it also consists of young adult fiction. I would recommend this book to readers over the age of 12 because it has inappropriate content and language included.  (Ellery Grade 8)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 3/5