Crash

Entertaining, Hilarious, Empathetic, Relatable, Touching 

Crash by Jerry Spinelli

Published by Yearling Copyright 1996

 

Written by Jerry Spinelli, Crash explores what friendship really means.  John "Crash" Coogan earned his nickname when he received his first football helmet as a kid and charged into his cousin, knocking her over.  Ever since, Crash has been a star football player and the popular kid in the whole seventh grade.  He relies on the price of his clothes, his stellar football performance, and his best friend, Mike Deluca to maintain his status.  However, his popularity also stems from picking on his nerdy neighbor, a Quaker and a vegetarian, Penn Webb.  The two boys have known each other since first grade.  Since then, things had always stayed the same: his parents worked seventy hour weeks and were barely home, his younger sister Abby was eclectic, and he was the best at everything.  However, as Crash reevaluates the way he treats people, he soon recognizes the  reality of both bullying and stereotypes, and instead begins to value a new friendship. 

Reading Level: Lexile Framework 560L, Grade 5/6 

Suggested Delivery: Small Group Read
Description: Fiction, Bullying, Friendship

Electronic Resources:
Study Guide
This is a link to a PDF that provides a series of discussion questions, vocabulary, and writing prompts broken down in sections by chapters.

Flash Cards
This interactive site gives students practice with some of the key vocabulary words.  There are games, spelling activities, and basic flashcards to help students become more familiar the terminology. 

Key Vocabulary: Bamboozle, Caper, Claptrap, Conestoga, Erosion, Torment, Vermin, Wince 

Teaching Suggestions:

1. Use this text in the beginning of the school year to discuss how people should be treated and how bullying and stereotypes can hurt others.
2. Use this text to discuss how authors incorporate flashback in their writing and inform readers of the past. 
3. Use this text in social studies to explore state nicknames.  Penn tells Crash that he is from North Dakota which is the Flickertail State.  Have students research their own state and find out what its nickname is and how it got that name.

Comprehension Strategies
Pre-Reading- Provide students with an Anticipation Guide that highlights the main themes such as bullying, stereotypes, and friendship to introduce students to these concepts.  

During Reading- Have students participate in Fishbowl Discussions.  They should address the main events in each chapter to aid in literal comprehension, discuss character development, and review any questions or concerns they may have.  By including open-ended questions in the discussion, students will also have an opportunity to make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections.  Some suggested discussion questions are as follows:

1. Why do you think Crash treats Penn the way he does?
2. What do you think about the way Penn's family lives?
3. Predict what you think will happen between Crash and Penn?
4. How does family play a role in this story?
5. How does Crash begin to change?

Post-Reading- Have students create a Voki for either Crash, Penn, Abby, or Deluca, demonstrating how the characters have evolved throughout the text.  Students should create a monologue from one of these perspectives and describe some of the things they do, their beliefs, and their feelings.  This activity will help students study a character in depth and recognize the main attributes of a character.  

Writing Activity: Have students write a narrative essay about which character they relate to the best and why.  Students should explore the themes in the text and also the changes some characters experience.

Spinelli, J. (1996). Crash. New York: Yearling.