Radical.
Part minibiography, part DIY guide, this engaging book chronicles the making of handmade skateboards by a lifelong aficionado.
“If you’ve got wheels under your feet, you can fly.” A skateboard—composed of three main parts: a deck, trucks, and wheels—promises fast movement. That’s certainly how Californian surfers thought of skateboards in the 1960s. Though no one can definitively pin the origins of these boards-on-wheels to any one location or time, Lakin notes that California seems like a probable birthplace for them, emphasizing the connection between surfing and skateboarding. After a brief history of the skateboard, readers meet Jake Eshelman, a white craftsman whose skateboarding adventures began during his childhood in Virginia. The book then explores Jake’s notion to make handmade skateboards from tossed-out strips of wood like maple, cherry, and walnut and the founding of his company, Side Project Skateboards. The author follows this snapshot with an extensive look at Jake’s weeklong process, which features plenty of up-close, bright photographs detailing each step. The tone of the narrative voice remains upbeat and energetic throughout, while the text, photos, and various figures appear on graph-paper backdrops, keeping everything clean and pleasant. Ultimately, it’s the boards themselves that appeal: a timeline at the end of the book offers a glimpse at a broader view of the skateboard—and the cool world it inspires.
Radical. (timeline, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4833-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
A love letter to Bollywood that offers heartfelt encouragement to the lonely.
Sixth grader Sonali learns a dramatic lesson about emotional honesty.
The Southern California tween has long shouldered the burden of her parents’ nonstop arguing—distracting her little brother when it makes him cry; stuffing her own feelings; and obeying her father’s code of secrecy and stoicism. Ironically, Indian American Sonali and her best friend, Pakistani American Zara, adore Bollywood movies and all their emoting. Sonali’s Gujarati family even has a weekly Hindi movie night, reveling in the high emotions on the screen while keeping their own trapped firmly behind closed doors. But her parents’ trial separation, combined with Zara’s growing friendship with a new girl at school, pushes Sonali beyond her limit. She is stricken with “filmi magic,” waking up in an alternate, Bollywood-enhanced world in which personal soundtracks express your true mood and intense feelings lead to song-and-dance numbers. Hair, clothing, and decor even get the Technicolor Bollywood treatment. Losing control leads Sonali to explore possible solutions to her “Bollywooditis”—and the inevitable realization that she must find the courage to open up to those who love her, which in turn fosters family and friendship growth. Sonali’s distress is painfully real, showing the isolating ripple effects of parental conflict on relationships and school performance. As much of the novel centers Sonali’s inner turmoil as she spins her emotional wheels, at times repetitively, it will appeal most to readers who appreciate character-driven stories.
A love letter to Bollywood that offers heartfelt encouragement to the lonely. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6673-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
For animal lovers, defenders of the environment, and fans of female-powered stories.
A girl and a polar bear forge a unique, loving friendship.
April Wood and her widowed scientist father travel to uninhabited Bear Island in the Arctic, where April’s dad has been commissioned to spend six months studying the effects of global warming on the area. Lonely April hopes to get closer to her distracted father, who still grieves his wife’s loss. Instead, incredibly—as dad had said there were none left—she bonds strongly with the island’s lone, injured polar bear, whom she dubs Bear. How April and Bear become best friends, how she cares for him, learns his ways, and masterminds a harrowing rescue effort to save Bear and deliver him home to Svalbard comprises the bulk of this unusual, amiably written tale. The novel incorporates facts, capably raises awareness about the perils of global warming, and makes a strong case for humans’ negative impact on the Arctic. April is an intelligent, independent, resourceful animal lover who staunchly advocates for the environment. Like-minded readers will relate to her and her desire for positive change in the world—and her yearning for loving relationships. The novel’s conclusion is touching and poignant, but some plot elements strain credulity or feel clichéd, and April’s dad is not a fully realized character. Sparse, unexciting, black-and-white illustrations fail to capture the setting’s grandeur. An author’s note includes information and websites.
For animal lovers, defenders of the environment, and fans of female-powered stories. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-304107-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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