Deadline by Chris Crutcher blew me away. Crutcher was the speaker at the 2004 Great Books program and I think he has an amazing knack for capturing teenage boy angst. The message of this book can speak to all of us at any age. What would you do if you knew your time here was almost over?
Eighteen year old Ben Wolf finds out at his pre-season physical that he has a terminal illness and he opts to forgo treatment and spend his final days really living rather than dying and he also opts to keep his illness a secret.
Ben is smart to the point of being obnoxious and gives his history teacher a royal hard time. The reader knows what the teacher doesn't know about Ben. It made me wonder what we don't know about all the obnoxious kids we deal with everyday.
