Introduction
Hi, this is Matt. I am the creator of Crash7.weebly.com. Here you can find helpful information about the book Crash, by Jerry Spinelli. I hope you find my website useful and enjoy it.
Bullying
Bullying is a big part of this story. The main bully in the book is Mike Deluca. He thinks that being a bully is okay and doesn't change his mind during the story. He goes on bullying people, without his friend's help. He is joined by Crash Coogan in the early parts of the book. They get a lot of pleasure out of making other kids feel uncomfortable or unhappy. The positive thing that happens is that one of the bullies, Crash, realizes his mistakes and changes his ways.
Friendship
Penn Webb decides to be friends with Crash. He is nice to him and offers him the one thing that is very important to him. His Mississippi mud. He thinks is has special powers and he wants to share it with Crash so that Crashes grandfather can get better after his stroke. The friendship that Mike and Crash have turns out to not really be a friendship that is good for them. Crash needs friends like Penn in his life. He doesn't need bullies like Mike hanging around him.
Transformation
The transformation that takes place is within Crash Coogan. He changes from an antagonist to a protagonist. In this story, that means, he changes from a bully to a kind, caring kid. He learns how to think about other's feelings before his own. He gets to this point with the help of Penn and Scooter. Scooter sickness and Penn's friendship are important parts of the change that takes place. It is amazing how Crash eventually cares so much about Penn's feelings for his great-grandfather, that Crash lets him win the race-off. He puts his own feelings about always wanting to win aside and lets Penn win the race. He does this so Penn's great-grandfather can see him run in the Penn relays. Crash turns out to be a good friend to Penn.