Angry Management

 Mr. Nak is the new counselor for an anger management group. He reviews their files, and tell us the story of Sarah Byrnes and Angus Bethune, Montana West, and Marcus James and Matt Miller. Sarah is physically abused by her father. Her mother abandons her leaving her now both physically and mentally scarred. She finds solace with an overweight teen named Angus Bethune. They both help each other fill the voids in their lives. Montana West is an envelope pushing kind of kid. She writes for the school newspaper and soon finds one of her articles under intense scrutiny by the school’s administration. While writing an article on the football team, she falls for Trey Chase. Together they decide to fight back against the school board and get her article published. Marcus James is the only gay, African-American student in his school.  He shows up to school one day with a pink noose around his neck. Angered at the lack of investigation into this hate crime, Matt Miller stands up for Marcus.

Any Chris Crutcher fan will love this novel. All three stories are from previous novels; Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, The Sledding Hill, and Whale Talk. The stories of these characters are harsh and raw, but readers will love finding out more about each of them.

Chapter 9: Booktalking

Connect the Books

This novel is an amazing follow up to reading Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, The Sledding Hill, and Whale Talk. We are introduced to all of the characters in these novels, and Angry Management expands on the stories of each of them. Many readers become invested in the characters of their favorite novels, what better way to follow up, than with more storylines?

Crutcher, C. (2009). Angry management. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.