Chinese Handcuffs

Crutcher, C.  (1989).  Chinese handcuffs.  New York, NY:  HarberCollins Children's Books.  Dillon has witness his brother suicide and feels responsible for it.  One way he finds to cope with his loss is by writing letters to his brother.  Dillon also runs a lot and joins marathons to help him cope.  Dillon is able to find out that the reason his brother killed himself was because he had raped a girl at a bar and had gotten his girlfriend, Stacy, pregnant.  Dillon meets another athlete, Jennifer.  She also tries to deal with her problems through exercising.  She is the star of the basketball team.  Jennifer has been sexually abused by her father and now step-father.  He has threatened to kill her sister and her dog if she tells anyone about it.  Jennifer also feels a great loss when her grandfather dies while they are putting a puzzle together.  She feels the only one who care for her had died.  When Jennifer finally has enough, she tries to jump off a bridge, but Dillon gets there in time to save her.  In trying to help Jennifer, Dillon is able to finally feel better and is able to go on with his life.  I feel that this book can is for an audience of middle school and up.  Some of the topics discussed in the book are a bit too mature for younger students.  I think many students going through issues of sexual abuse, parent neglect, and the subject of suicide.  What is revealing about this characters is that even though, Dillon, Stacy, and Jennifer are young, they have to deal with issues that have made grow up quicker and a made them wiser than their years.