Angry Management

Crutcher, C. (2009). Angry management. NY: HarperCollins 

The story starts off with Mr. Nak, a counselor, who goes on to introduce the main characters of the three novellas that make up Angry Management.  In the first novella, we meet Sarah Byrnes and Angus Bethune.  Sarah was severely burned on her face when she was very young, by her abusive father.  Her mother left shortly after, leaving Sarah behind to be raised by her father.  Angus, a very overweight senior in high school, comes from a very loving mom and dad, who are divorced.  His mom and dad are both gay and married to their significant others.  Angus ends up helping Sarah track down her mom for the second time, only to find that her mom actually had another daughter (she was pregnant with her when she left Sarah and Sarah's father).  Through the course of the story, they become a couple and end up going to work at a place for blind kids, where Sarah seems to grow in confidence and accept that she can still be "shiny" even with her burns.  The second novella introduces us to Montana West and Trey Chase.  Montana, a once popular cheerleader, has turned goth and is trying to get her well written op-ed peace in the school paper.  Her father, who she despises, won't let it happen.  Meanwhile, she meets Trey Chase, a football player who lives with his dying grandmother, when she has to do a peace on the football team.  The two end up becoming a couple, Montana moves in with Trey and his grandmother after a stellar fight with her father about giving up on a child they were fostering.  In the end, Montana and her father have a very public fight at a school board meeting and everyone gets to see her father's true colors.  The third novella introduces us  to Matt Miller and Marcus James.  Marcus James is the only black kid in his school.  He's also gay.  Matt Miller is a Christian state champion wrestler.  The two cross paths when the superintendent declares he will pay a reward for whoever gives up any information about a noose that was found on Marcus' locker.  Matt Miller is the one who tells the crowd he overheard three of the football players laughing about it- which puts a target on Marcus and Matt.  The three football players, one of whom comes from a line of racist and law breaking family members, get suspended from the football team and end up killing Marcus by running him over with a boat, while he was open-water swimming.  In the end, the boys aren't punished because supposedly there was not enough evidence to prove they intentionally ran Marcus over.  Matt quits the wrestling team, because he doesn't want to wrestle for a school that could let such a thing happen, but receives a wrestling scholarship anyways.

This is a tear jerker for sure!  All three stories have moments that make you suck the air.  There's tragedy and triumph and you can't help but keep turning the pages.  There's something to like and something to connect with, with every character, which makes this a great young adult read!  There is consistency with the characters, and stereotypes are blown out of the water as you get to know each character.  Modern readers can relate to every character, on some level, whether their lives look similar or they feel empathetic for the struggles.  Readers who enjoy Angry Management should check out Chris Crutcher's other books: Whale Talk, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Deadline, Period 8, and The Meat Grinder, to name just a few.