SLALOM

Sandro, a natural-born skier, sacrifices his ski-championship dreams by working part-time (to help pay the rent) at the ski shop at the resort where he lives with his mom. His weak-minded single mom, despite the fact that his father left her the day after Sandro’s conception, still believes he—a championship skier himself—will one day return to her. Of course, when Alessandro Sr. actually does walk in the door 17 years later, Sandro’s mother immediately leaps into his arms thinking the family is reunited. Sandro predictably wants nothing to do with him, and spends the rest of the story arguing with his father, arguing with his mom about his father, fighting with rival skiers, groaning about being broke, and biting the heads off girls who are way more interested in him than any potential teen reader will ever be. Predictable, unimaginatively dialogue-driven, rhythmically repetitive, and full of flat, unlikable characters, Rottman’s story about skiing, trust, and tough love strives for Chris Crutcher stardom, but unfortunately doesn’t venture further than the bunny slope. (Fiction. YA)