Skateboard Kids

Deborah Dowson is a Canaadian children’s librarian in North Wales,
Pennsylvania.

Justin had been looking forward to competing with his friends in the
skateboarding contest, but everything seems to be going wrong. His
prized Devastator skateboard is missing, and his friends’ behavior is
causing him even more grief. Tracy is acting rude and bossy, and Luke is
starting to become a bully. Tempers are flaring, and there are many bad
feelings and misunderstanding. In time, however, the skateboard finds
its way back to Justin, and his friends find a way to resolve their
differences.

It is rare for a chapter book for beginning readers to have such a
serious tone, and the author’s attempts at humor—using a baby
sister’s foibles with her diapering—are not enough to lift the
story’s heavy and troubled tone. Readers expecting to read a sports
story may be disappointed to discover that the loss of the skateboard in
the first chapter prevents the kids from competing, or even practising.
In fact, there are only two paragraphs devoted to the description of the
competition.

The book’s central focus is the relationship between the
friends—how hurt feelings trigger angry, hurtful behavior, how the
friends’ behavior can be forgiven, how bullies cannot be tolerated. As
in real life, the children make mistakes, learn to work them out, and
their friendships continue to grow in the process. Recommended with
reservations.