The Sledding Hill

I adore Chris Crutcher's books and have read almost all of them; I never seem to tire of his themes of compassion, intellectual freedom, standing up against bullies, and open discourse. That said, this book did not work well for me, although I appreciate that he tried a new approach. I think that might be the problem: the book's two unusual elements each might have worked better alone, giving the author time to work them out more successfully.

The first element is that the author is narrating posthumously; Billy is killed in a freak accident (he kicks a pile of sheet rock and it falls on him) and he then narrates the story, popping in and out of the other characters' heads as a dead person. I have no problem with this idea, but Billy show more relates the thoughts he sees/hears, sometimes in third person and sometimes in first person, even within the same paragraph. Since he also narrates his own portions in first person, I had to keep stopping to figure out whether a particular thought belonged to Billy or to his friend Eddie, whom Billy visits and helps throughout the narrative.

The second unusual element is that Crutcher inserts himself into the narrative; the book that some characters want to ban is a fictitious book by Chris Crutcher himself. The characters fighting both for and against banning the book check out Crutcher's website and give lots of facts about his life. It comes across as a bit gimmicky and in my mind doesn't add much to the story.

This book is also shorter than most of Crutcher's work, and it feels as though he rushed to the conclusion, which seemed mostly an excuse to have a couple of characters give impassioned speeches. In my opinion, a clever argument given as a speech should rarely be the climax of a book; it then makes the book seem too much of an excuse for the author him/herself to give a speech.

Finally, while I agree with Crutcher that the people/characters we see as the "bad guys" do not generally think they are doing bad things, such as the reverend/school board member who is trying to ban the book, the fact remains that what they are doing *is* wrong, so I'm not willing to just accept that "bad guys aren't that bad" on face value. The characters against censorship lose the battle (all of Crutcher's books are banned in the school) and supposedly win the war (the janitor and librarian who've lost their jobs over this issue get jobs at the public library -- which is completely unrealistic). Somehow, this ending just didn't satisfy.

All these criticisms aside, I think Crutcher is a fantastic writer and I will continue to buy and read his books. I've already pre-ordered his next one! show less

Despite the unenlightening name and rather innocuous looking cover, I was immediately hooked with this book. In the first chapter, 14-year-old Eddie Proffit's father and then his best friend, Billy Bartholomew, both die in unrelated freak accidents within a few weeks of each other. Eddie is the one to discover both of their bodies, and the shock and grief literally strike Eddie mute. However Billy's death doesn't stop him from narrating the entire book while his spirit decides to stick around Earth for a second time to check up on Eddie. With newfound omniscience, Billy gives the reader insights into Eddie's mind as well as his own thoughts and the thoughts of a few other characters. The next few chapters give the appearance that the show more rest of the book will be devoted to discussing grief, which it does to some extent. However, the book then takes a turn when Eddie's elective course, Really Modern Literature, starts discussing a controversial (and faux) novel, Warren Peece by none other than Chris Crutcher. The small town’s fundamental Christians get up in arms against the book, trying to have it pulled from the course curriculum along with other "obscene" books. Eddie, with some help from Billy's ghost, must decide whether to go with the flow or stand up for a challenged book. This book, while suffering from some writing style flaws, is an interesting look at the process of censorship and the motivations behind both sides of a censorship challenge. show less

This is a clever book that adopts an unusual narrative point of view to explore the concepts of friendship, love, well-being, and censorship. It is particularly welcome as a YA text with a male narrator and centred on a male protagonist that doesn't explore sexual relationships; instead, it explores issues of intelligence, authority, conformity, and integrity.

Eddie, the protagonist, is grieving sudden, deep losses and confronting the challenges of being a teenage boy. A community fight over the removal of books from the school library gives him a focus for healing and working through his emerging sense of identity.

Readers are likely to be challenged by the narrative concept, by the arguments around censorship (particularly the show more contamination theory and the responsible-community theory), and by the author's presence in the text. This book invites thoughtful conversation and mature engagement. It could be rewardingly used in a classroom, for it is sure to stimulate discussion, but is more likely to be successfully introduced to individual readers through recommendation from a trusted source. There are few language concerns per se, but any careful reader will encounter narrative asides, knowing winks, and paraphrasing that signal typical hot-button topics.

I'm very glad to have read this novel. It's thoughtful, approachable, and so, so smart, and I enjoyed it. show less

Crutcher is one of my go-to authors for YA fiction and probably the most inclusive when it comes to the ugly life issues kids face. He's a champion of telling like it is and keeping books in the hands of the reader where they belong. This work,(cool and unusual twist) read just like some of his interviews. It was interesting, impassioned, and right on, but he's preaching to the choir, as it were. I don't know if the equivalent of the Red Brickers would really read it.

Eddie and Billy are best real life friends, until Billy accidentally kicks a pile of sheet rock that rapidly cascades and kills him. Sadly, within the span of a very short time, Eddie losses both his best friend and his father to freak accidents.

Knowing his friend has a lack of social skills and is also in emotional pain, Billy decides to hang around before passing on to the next level. Thus, his spirit regularly visits Eddie to provide guidance.

When the nasty small-town preacher decides to use Eddie and his emotional pain as a statement regarding how to be a "Christian", Billy provides assistance.

This book was ok, not great, just ok. It was good enough to finish and initially held my interest, but I was taken aback by the author's self show more aggrandizement. One of the major themes of the book was the banning of books and censorship.

I was a tad bothered by the fact that the author used his real life book to incorporate into the fictional tale of Eddie and Billy and censorship. show less

Chris Crutcher's _The Sledding Hill_. What a clever book. Crutcher's writing is so fast-paced that I didn't want to put this book down. He uses excellent word choice as well. Crutcher is quite accurate with his characterization of some students (like Eddie) who must be moving in order to focus. (See p. 11) I knew a teacher who had to pace around the room when she taught; she also raced around her room while reading the newspaper during her prep.

Eddie (after experiencing two tragedies) decides to stop speaking. I find this choice not to speak is a common thread in many YA novels (even adult novels--I just finished reading _Empire Falls_ and it also had a teenager who didn't speak much at all.)

Crutcher makes many statements throughout his show more novel that are so true, for example "People can make excuses for anything, he thinks. Anything" (72).

Perhaps my favorite idea in the book, though, is the assignment in Eddie's _Really_ Modern Literature class where students are to read 15 books of their choice. "' ... [A]ll you have to do to pas the class with an A is take five minutes out of your busy lives to give me the one line in the book that meant the most to you: made you laugh or cry or angry or just made you wiser, _or_ if you hated it, a line that is evidence why. Then you move on. I'm assigning one book _Warren Peece_, by Crutcher. That one we'll discuss in detail'" (87). How funny--Crutcher has the teacher--Mrs. Lloyd (the school's librarian) assign a Crutcher book! I really like the assignment because that's what I do when I read books; I jot down my favorite lines. (I'd have trouble with the picking just one though!)

So perhaps, my most favorite line in _The Sledding Hill_ is when Mrs. Lloyd (the librarian who's in deep trouble for assigning Crutcher's _Warren Peece_ to her _Really_ Modern Literature class) tells Eddie: '"I believe in stories, Eddie. I believe stories have the power to heal. I believe in ideas" (143). show less

Billy Bartholomew dies when sheetrock falls on him but his spirit remains around to guide his best friend Eddie Profitt who is doubly devastated by the death of his father. Eddie becomes mute after Billy's death. Mrs. Proffit and the church minister Tarter lean on Eddie to become more active in the church. This coincides with a book challenge (of a fictional Chris Crutcher title, no less) at school. Eddie doesn't agree with the challenge and he's indifferent about joining the church, but Billy helps him see that it's useful to get to know the opposition's side before taking a stand against the challenge.