King of the Mild Frontier

Crutcher, C. (2003). King of the mild frontier an ill-advised autobiography. New York: Harper Collins.

Chris Crutcher shares his life and memories from his childhood, with his brother, at school, and later as an adult. One of the most hilarious anecdotes in the book was when he was playing with his best friend, Ron Boyd, and some other kids from the neighborhood. He had to pee; Chris’ brother had a bright idea! He suggested Chris pee into the furnace. For some crazy reason, he listens! A yellow steam exits the furnace; a disgusting scent penetrated the entire house! His brother’s famous words before doing something crazy were, “Wanna do something neat?” His brother not only constantly got Chris in trouble but shot him in the head with a BB gun! And, he also made up a story about Jesus having an older son. He made up that story just to get out of trouble for breaking Chris’ “Jesus Saves” prize he got at church. Chris’ brother ends up being an accountant in Seattle.

Chris touches polemical topics such as religion, masturbation, and even dealing with pimples (nobody talks about pimples)! He talks about what lead him to not be a Christian. He is more like a scientist who believes in the Big Bang. But, he does include religious themes in this writing.  

Right of the bat, Crutcher shares what an angry child he was.  He was such an explosive child, that he would break toys and make holes in the walls. This temper, as odd as it sounds, became a tool that helped in his life. It helped him in the football team and prevented others from wanting to beat him up because he was “savage.” This temper also led him to become a writer and connect with his clients as a therapist.

This is an enjoyable book in which students can learn a lot about the author. Students can be grouped and can choose roles: summarizer, questioner, connector (makes text-to-text connections, text-to self, text-to-world), illustrator, researcher (can contact the librarian and together they can research the life of the author), and one who focuses on finding the meaning of words that the group may not know. They can create a presentation using Google Docs, and each student can add information using an iPad or a computer.

Other books written by Chris Crutcher are: Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories, Chinese Handcuffs, The Crazy Horse Electric Game, Ironman, Running Loose, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, and Stotan!