Background Information

The Novel Stotan! by Chris Crutcher is about the Robert Frost boys swimming team and their coach, Max. The four boys on the team are Walker, Nortie, Lion, and Jeff. It takes place in Spokane, Washington during the present time. Some parts of the book also are in Montana during their swimming tournaments. They are all very close friends and have known each other from swimming for a very long time. One day, Max posted a sign up sheet for "Stotan" Week. It was a voluntary event that was for swimming, and didn't tell any more information than that. They all decided to sign up for it, but they didn't know what they were getting into.

For Stotan Week, the four boys all decided to stay at Lion's place. Lion lives alone in an apartment because his parents were killed in a boat accident. They aren't even sure if it is legal for him to do it, but nobody really ever did anything to stop him from doing it. There they all tell each other stories and have a lot of fun. They go out for cokes and food during the week and just hang out there.

The first day of Stotan Week was very tough. Since none of them were used to working so hard for a while, they got sore and tired after just the first two hours out of the total of four. They mainly did activities out of the pool, like bear crawls and sprints to get them in shape. When they went in the pool, they went into what was called the "torture lane." This was when they had to swim a lot, and very hard. At the end of it, they were all very tired and just laid down for most of the day. The second day wasn't much different, but they were all very sore and did a little better. They didn't only get pushed on by Max, but they pushed each other on by giving each other encouragement and challenging them. On the third day, they all became used to the workouts and began doing it very well and fast. They swam a lot more in the water, while still doing things on the outsides of the pool like sprints. They began going like machines. Lion was the first to turn into this stage where they could feel nothing and just kept going faster and faster. On the final two days, they didn't get into those machine-like stages, but got in great shape and were finished with Stotan Week. They were true Stotans and they had all learned a lot about each other, not just in the water, but secrets and things they had to live with all of their lives.

There are many serious issues dealt with throughout this book, such as racism, abuse, violence, drugs, sex, death, and many others. This book shows how people can grow and become very different in such little time. It shows how much a person can take and how much people can push and encourage others on toward success.