Deadline

Deadline

Crutcher, C. (2007). Deadline. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Deadline, a modern fiction novel about a boy named Ben Wolf, is a mix of “Friday Night Lights”, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Chocolate Wars.  Ben, having gone to his family doctor for his cross country physical has discovered that he has a rare blood disease that will kill him within the year.  Choosing to forego treatment, Ben proceeds to “live like he is dying” without telling anyone he is sick, and as one of the smallest guys at school, tries out for the football team and not only makes it, but excels.  He brazenly pursues the girl of his dreams, Dallas Suzuki, and gets her.  And he begins to question his teachers with reckless abandon much to their chagrin—he becomes that kid teachers hate to see coming.  But, keeping his illness a secret is much harder than Ben thought it would be.  With a dysfunctional family, a girlfriend with heart-breaking secrets of her own, and a boss who is hiding a monstrous mental/legal issue himself, Ben feels the weight and guilt of the knowledge that he is dying in secret.  This novel is chock full of issues that young adult readers face today from abuse, mental illness, terminal illness, guilt, bullying, and just plain pressure of everyday life, so it is valid based not only on all the levels of Havighurst’s theory of development, but qualifies for almost every aspect of what makes a book good for young adults.  I would recommend this novel for high school readers based on the complexity of most of the emotional conflicts.