Philip lives for skateboarding. School is merely the break between trying to land a difficult jump and outrunning the security guards. When he and his best friend Wally meet a professional skateboarder who videotapes himself for his website, Philip thinks they can do it too—and make money at the same time. When they start getting hits on their website—and making money—they start to feel the pressure to do more and more dangerous stunts.
Eric was born in Toronto in 1957, which makes him "real old". But, as Eric says, "Just because I have to grow old doesn't mean that I have to grow up!" In his many roles as parent, teacher, social worker, youth sports coach and writer he is in constant contact with children and young adults. He draws from these experiences and feels that this helps him to capture the realistic interaction between young people—the conflicts, tensions, stresses and interests that make up their lives.
Eric began his writing as a teacher. He taught in classes from kindergarten up and his stories often reflect the curriculum that he was teaching. He always read stories—picture books and novels—to his students and this helped him to understand what children liked, responded to, and were inspired by. He enjoys the enthusiasm of his students and often looks at them to provide him with the inspiration to pursue a particular topic in both the classroom and in his writing.
Eric tries to write every day. When he has a story idea he starts with research. This could involve reading books, watching a documentary, or trying to experience the things that his characters are going to go through. This could include rock climbing or riding white water (for Stars), spending time in a wheelchair (Rebound), playing and walking with tigers (Tiger by the Tail), hanging around a tough biker bar (Diamonds in the Rough), standing out in his backyard in a blizzard wearing a T-shirt and shorts (Trapped in Ice), or traveling to Africa (Alexandria of Africa).
"The most important thing anybody ever told me about writing was to write what you know . . . and the only way to get to know things is to do your homework and research before you write," Eric stated.
Once the writing begins the story is always playing around in his head. He takes any opportunity, even if it's just a few minutes between presentations, to put things down, either with pen and paper or on his laptop.
Prior to entering teaching and writing Eric was a social worker (B.S.W., M.S.W., B.A.Hons—specialized major psychology). He worked in a variety of settings including child welfare, private practice, a mental health centre, and, for twenty years on a part-time basis as a Crisis Social Worker in an emergency department. He stopped teaching 4 years ago and left the ER only last year.
The majority of Eric's time is spent in the company of his wife, children and dogs (Lola a big standard poodle and a little white dog named Winnie the Poodle).
Grind by Eric Walters is a really good book. I like it a lot. If you are a big time skater then I recommend you read this book. It really catches your attention at the beginning. When I was reading this book I couldn’t stop sometimes because I just wanted to find out what was going to happen next. I like this book a lot and I recommend you to read this book and find out what is so good about it. This book has four main characters. Philip is the main guy of the story. His best friend Wally both like to skate. They go to the same place to skate. Philip doesn’t really like school. He is mainly into skating. They meet this professional skater and get to do something for this guy. Then they want to do what the professional skater does to make money. As they are making videos they are finding out that they are doing more dangerous stunts.
The reason I decided to read this book was because skating is a really cool sport to watch and even though i'm terrible at it, it would be a good book to read.
The category on the bingo board this book is under is 'YOUR OWN CHOICE'. The reason I placed the book in that category is because the book was something that I wanted to read so I wasn't looking for a book that was under any other slot in the bingo board.
The most interesting character in this book was Phillip (the main character). He wouldn't stop! One day him and his mate Wally were in there original skate spot (behind the supermarket) and met up with these famous skaters and told them they could make money by making a website and uploading 'sick' videos. So that's exactly what Phillip did. He found a 'Nerd' who could help with the website, he found another skater to join Wally and himself and started produce awesome clips.
My favourite quote in the book is "if you keep riding son, you could be like Tony Hawk!" because it just shows if you want something so bad you can always achieve it with a lot of time and effort.
Something I learned from this novel is: always have a dream. But dreams come from hard work and determination!
Bailey Surprenant Mr. Noecker Hour 5 Book title: Grind Grind is a book about high school skateboarders. The two main characters are practicing at a skate park behind a grocery store. As they are skating a car pulls up and its the famous pro skater “bam bam.” He is making a video for his website and wants them to be in it. This inspires Wally and Phillip to make their own videos and website. They get the help of Nevin, a computer and tech genius to do the computer work for them. When they make there website its gets a lot of hits and to keep the viewers interested they have to perform and upload more tricks. Wally’s last try of a tick ends in tragedy as he breaks his leg. I don’t think this book should be brought on the ship. This book didn't really mean much and it wasn't very informative. Plus it was a short book so more complicated detailed books could easily take this ones place for the ship. There is no scientific information nor any historical support. The only thing this book contains of worth is a short story of friendship.
I thought the book Grind was a good read and overall an entertaining book. Philip and his friend Wally are both skaters, Wally is a good student and an alright skater. While Philip does horrible in school, but is a considerably better skater. Their adventures always result in something bad, either injury or trouble with security guards, but this time was different. Philip and Wally meant an unlikely friend named Nevin. Nevin was a computer nerd who helped them set up a skating website, and this is where our story picks up. They posted recordings of skating tricks that they had landed to their website. They started to become popular with joke videos about running away from “fake cops”. While trying to land a trick Wally doesn’t drop out and tries to land it resulting in a very hard landing for him.
I overall liked the characters in the book Grind. They had been developed through the stories with their actions and what they had done leading up to where the story picks up. It was very short you still got an idea who these characters really were. I think the Author’s writing style is very good, he conveyed the message he was going for while the book being a short read. The only bad thing about the book was how it abruptly ended and with it having no sequel, you’re really just left hanging.
The book reveals that not everyone is meant to do the same thing. Philip was a horrible student, and didn’t care about school at all. So his parents wanted him to get a job, he declined as he had found something he was passionate about and stuck with it. He found a way to make something out of his passion instead of giving it up like most people. You don’t have to give up the things you love to “grow up” and to become a “successful” person.
I thought the book was pretty uninteresting for the most part, although it was sort of entertaining at some parts of the book. In the book, “Grind”, a couple of highschool kids who skate decide to record themselves skating and posting it to a website. The author makes the hijinks the skaters are doming sound very bland and unexciting, like how he/she describes the characters. I also like how the author makes everything sound fun and exciting. Most books start out slow at first, which is to be expected when you introduce the characters, but this book starts out slow and continues to be slow throughout the ENTIRE book. “Grind” doesn't have any plot twists that you don't already expect, since if you put even a little thought into what will happen next, it's obvious as to what will happen. There really isn't any major change in the storyline, more slight changes to the storyline. I don't think that there even was a best part to the book. The ending is the best part. I say that because I thought it gave a much needed closure to the story. The ending also made me ask myself questions like “Could this book have been good?”. After a bit of thinking, I came to the conclusion that this book could have easily been good. Very rarely I would not recommend someone a book that I have read. However, I honestly can not recommend this book to anyone because it has a decent plot idea but falls flat by being extremely bland throughout the entire book and it is definitely not worth reading. I suggest you not read this unless you like reading books that are as interesting as watching paint dry.
Yo creo que este libro es muy bueno porque se relaciona a algo que nos pasa a todos, decidir entre hacer lo que estás supuesto a hacer (como la escuela) o hacer lo que tu corazón quiere hacer. Philip no le gustaba a escuela y lo que le gustaba era patinar, era su pasión y decidió seguirla. Pero, como nos pasa a todos cuando nos emocionamos haciendo cosas que nos gustan, perdemos el control y podemos actuar sin pensar primero causando problemas. Yo creo que las personas debe saber encontrar un balance en sus vidas para ser exitosas. A mi me gustan muchas cosas, como la música y los caballos y ser parte del equipo de wrestling pero trato de no descuidar mi prioridad, la escuela. Todas las personas tiene este problema, y en algunas veces esto es triste porque personas no hacen nunca lo que les hace feliz si no lo que es más fácil, esto nunca debería ser una opción. -Margaret
This felt like a Rocket Power fan fiction. We have four main characters, Phillip (main = Twister), Wally (Otto), Lisa (Reggie) and Nevin (Sam). The MC is pretty flat and can't even remember Nevin's name -- but is still willing to take advantage of him. Nevin turns out to be more hard core and edgy than as any of them, even though Phillip calls him that "nerd". In fact Nevin is a little scary, willing to risk their safety for the sake of views.
This was written in like 2004, so there is this funny scene where Bam Bam explains how the internet works. It was laughable.
Overall, it was a quick read, sometimes funny, that ultimately lacked depth. It reminded me of being a kid, and it read written for kids, so I give it 3.5 stars.
This book has to have been my favorite book i've ever read! it was really interesting and had a lot of detail to it. it was about a boy who loved skate boarding and he would try new tricks some he would get others he wouldn't. he met his all time favorite skater and learned a lot so he decided to make his own page to make money... you should really read this book its very interesting. i give this book a 80%
It was hard for me to relate to the main character of this book, as I never skateboarded and I was a more eager student than him. I did though appreciated the friendship he had with Wally. The last chapter is one of the most moving examples of bro time I’ve ever read. It’s a bit unfortunate that the book is awfully short.
Before I read the story just by the cover page I know it was about skateboarding. But usually every movie or book is about someone trying to get sponsored, so that’s what I immediately thought it was about. For example there is a movie called grind and the story behind it is the kids trying to get sponsored. And another movie called street dreams , Most of the movies and book about skateboarding are about people trying to get sponsored so obviously I immediately thought they where going to try and get sponsored.
Did you fell the book fulfilled your expectations ? where you disappointed ?
Yes, I was disappointed because at the very beginning it was interesting because he was skateboarding a lot in it , But as the book went on they didn’t as much at in the beginning . And when I read a book I like it when there’s always something going on for example the beginning of the book was what I liked the most because of how much skateboarding they were doing . It didn’t really fulfill my expectations because it was really lame with names and stuff they put on the website . For example one of the characters last name was falcon and on the website they put on falcons and other birds and stuff . I didn’t really like that because I find that it is to lame for a skateboarding book because at the beginning they are the cool kids in school .
Did you enjoy the book ? why ? why not ?
I enjoyed it and didn’t enjoy is at different times , I liked it because its on my favourite sport and they were doing all the tricks I can do . So I got a really good feel of what they were doing .I didn’t like the book because they were really bad with the names on the site and to me I didn’t really like that because I find it was kind of lame . They put up pictures of what there names were for the back round . and another thing I didn’t like is in the end they stopped it with his friends breaking his leg and wanting to quit . i find that it happend to quickly to end the book .
.What are some of the books themes ? The main theme of the book is skateboarding. Witch to me is good because a lot of people like skateboarding Witch would attract people who like it to read the book. Another theme is photography because the main thing is to film for videos or take pictures for magazines. Witch to me is one of the themes because without it a big part of the book wouldn’t be there.
Did the book end the way you expected?
No, I thought it was going to end with him getting sponsored and he would be rich and would be happy with his life . But I ended with his friend breaking his leg and want to quit skateboarding and they wanted to film a video for him so they would get a lot of hits on their website .But doesn’t tell us how the video went after or if he actually finished it. So it didn’t really end the way I expected Would you recommend this book to other readers? To your close friends? Yes, but only the ones that skateboard because, they would understand a lot better then someone who doesn’t. For example the tricks or slang, and how much pressure and stress they go through trying a trick and making good videos.
What was your favourite part or scene?
My favourite part in the book is when the main character and his friend meet there favourite skateboarder because I would love to meet my favourite skateboarder. So for them I got to feel how lucky they were and how jealous I was when they would get to meet him . Also when they were getting kicked out of a spot to skateboard and a lot of cops came, it made a lot more action in the book to keep me/readers interested in it.
On a scale from 1-10 what would you give this book . what would you of done to make it better ?
I would give this book about a 7 because its not everything i wanted but still a good book .witch to me levels out to a 7 . To make this book better i would make it where he break s his leg at the beginning instead of the end and make it so he has a huge comeback and get all different sponsors and money , also make it soothe book ends with a good ender and probably make another story to it .
What was your least favourite scene/part in the book . ? I didn’t like the ending because it sucks when you get hurt skateboarding because you get scared and don’t want to try it so i fell really bad for the character breaking his leg because it would of really scared me if i broke my leg , But at the same time its a book so he could of just got back into really fast but they wanted to end the book . I didn’t like how it ended that fast because i was getting into the book and when it got to that part it ended really short .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
My favourite character in this story is Wally. The reason why I recommend Wally as my favourite character is because he is a thoughtful boy who has other peoples interests and feelings in mind. He came from Poland with his family when he was four and he didn't know a word of English apart from nike, coke and hello. He became very close friends with a boy named "Phil" which was his first buddy when he started school. Both of the boys loved skateboarding and breaking the rules of where they were allowed to skate. Wally went along with his friends risky ways but also tried to influence his friends to the rights and wrongs of treating people with respect and humility.
2= What was the most exciting part and why?
In my opinion the most exciting part of this story was when Phil, Wally, Lisa and Nevin decided that they would get together and record/video their skating tricks and jumps. They went to record their first jump. After recording Wally and Phil, there were not much memory left in their camera storage so they decided that they would do one more jump. But suddenly Wally screamed "SECURITY!!!" They all fled when the security car rocked up but then a second car came out of nowhere heading straight toward Phil. The car slammed on its brakes causing Phil to react and leap onto the hood of the stopped car. His momentum carried him forward and he ran up the windshield, over the roof, down the trunk and leaped back to his board which had rolled under the car and returned to him out the other side. And then they all made their way to a little hole in the fence and all managed to escape. I think this part of the story gave a huge effect of excitement not knowing what could of happened to the group of them.
The protagonist, or main character of the story is Philip Falcone (Phil for short), who skates with his buddy Walter Waltniski (Wally for short). They were skating one day practicing their moves until one of the pros showed up. Brian Bradley, or ‘Bam Bam’ - as he’s known for destroying his board when doing tricks.
Meeting Bam Bam has lead Phil to realize something, that the pros are not as pro as he thought them to be. That he could pull off some decent moves in less tries than they could. That was when he came up with the idea to create his own website, and show off his own moves and make revenue just as Bam Bam does.
I am not a big fan of Lisa, she manages to bring up lots of attitudes when around Philip, and believes that he has cheated on him just because he was around another girl. I think she still likes him because she makes such a big deal out of it, but it gets annoying when she does it all the time.
One of the more better characters would have to be the computer genius, Nevin. Without him, the the website Phil had imagined would not have become a reality. Nevin could have just declined, and the whole idea would just collapse. He didn’t, and this was not just because Nevin had extra time on his hands. He risked getting caught when he was taking footage of the security officer chasing Phil for the website - not something one would do in their free time.
Overall the book was a nice read, I would recommend this book to people who are into short stories. You may not want to read this book if you don’t like cliffhangers, and this book does indeed revolve a lot around skateboarding. So if you are into skateboarding, this is the book for you.
Philip Falcone and Wally Waltniski best friend Skateboarders. They both live to ride. Philip is the kind of person that doesn’t give up, if he falls of the board hill get right back on. That’s just the kind of person he is. But Lisa (his ex girlfriend) was thing he could barely get back thanks to a incident in the movie theaters with another girl. Every since then she has been steaming at him. But that would all change when he got an idea from a pro skateboarder known as BAM BAM Bradley. Bam Bam had website he made big money off of for the ratings he got. So Philip got three friends and made one of his own. The team was made of 4 people Nevin, Philip, Lisa, and Wally. But will this all go a little too far?
This Book reminds me of Never Back down. The boy in the movie was always angry and so he was constantly getting into fights. But no matter how beat up he was he would always get back up and try again. That reminds me of Philip because no matter how beat up his body would get he would get up and try his trick again.
I give this book 3 stars because it was really good but it wasn’t like the other books. I really like the characters though each one was individual but I like Philip the best because of his determination.
Philip Lives For Skateboarding. School is the breaking point between trying to land a difficult trick and messing with the security guards. When he and his best friend Wally meet a professional skateboarder who videotapes himself for his website, Philip thinks they can do it too, and make money at the same time. When they start getting hits on their website and making money, they start to feel like they need to do more and more dangerous tricks. When Wally is badly hurt skateboarding and sent to the hospital, Phillip must decide what is more important, skateboarding or making things right with his friends and his ex-girlfriend.
I can make a text to text connection with philip because he clearly doesnt care about school and wants to just play and skate and be a bad boy. I can relate to that because ive done that, i would lie to my parents and tell them im done with homework and just play on the computer and have fun.
If i were to rate this book i would give it a 5 because it really touched me and ithink its awesome and i just thought it really related to me. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a good time reading something and reading about skateboarding and action.
Philip Lives For Skateboarding. School is the breaking point between trying to land a difficult trick and messing with the security guards. When he and his best friend Wally meet a professional skateboarder who videotapes himself for his website, Philip thinks they can do it too, and make money at the same time. When they start getting hits on their website and making money, they start to feel like they need to do more and more dangerous tricks. When Wally is badly hurt skateboarding and sent to the hospital, Phillip must decide what is more important, skateboarding or making things right with his friends and his ex-girlfriend.
I can make a text to text connection with Philip because he clearly doesn’t care about school and wants to just play and skate and be a bad boy. I can relate to that because ive done that, i would lie to my parents and tell them im done with homework and just play on the computer and have fun.
If I were to rate this book I would give it a 5 because it really touched me and think its awesome and I just thought it really related to me. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a good time reading something and reading about skateboarding and action
This Book was About two kids named Wally and Phillip that love to skateboard. And One Day a professinal Skateboarder named "Bam Bam" Came to one of the spots they were skating and they took footage of the kids reaction to bam bams tricks and stuff. Then one day Phillip Decied to get Wally, Lisa that was phillips Ex Girlfriend and a Kid named Devin. And He had a plan to make a website. Thats what devin was for he was like a computer Genius and all he did was work with computers so Phillip asked him if he could make a website and help them get footage of them skateing. So thats what they did. Wally, Lisa, And phillip went to a skate spot and devin shot footage of them doing it. But then the security came and devin stayed hid, while wally, lisa and Phillip Ran from them So Lisa And Wally Ran. But then phillip was trying to and then a security Gaurd came flaying around a corner. and Phillip Jumped on top of the hood ran across the top of the car and jumped off the trunk of the car and ran away. So when they got back eveyone was ok and devin got that on footage.
La parte de la novela que me pareció extremadamente relevante para mi vida fue la parte de Phil y Wally que eran tan apasionados por el skateboarding. Phil y Wally tienen algo que les apasiona, es genial. Puede ser muy motivador para los niños y mantener a los niños en el buen camino. Me relaciono mucho con eso porque quiero ser maestra de educación especial y trabajar con niños con necesidades especiales. Actualmente estoy en una pasantía en SHADE y me encanta. También me apasiona la difusión de comunicaciones y hago una pasantía en la estación de radio de WCC, pero me apasiona mucho trabajar con niños con necesidades especiales. Creo que si te apasiona algo, deberías esforzarte al máximo para alcanzar tu objetivo para lograr ese objetivo, porque todo es posible si lo intentas y metes tu corazón y tu alma en él y todo sucede por una razón, por lo que nunca debes renunciar a tu sueño.
Grind is mostly about...you guessed it! Skaters. Four high school kids get together to create an awesome web site featuring their tricks and make a boatload of money in the process. Unfortunately, an accident and serious injury forces them to reconsider their priorities.
Grind had pretty realistic teen characters. Some of the sk8er words, like names of tricks, were impossible for me to visualize, but I think that teens who are into skating would really like this book. I'm stuck between thinking "Ok" and "Liked it" because it ended really quickly with a couple of things still hanging for the characters. I wanted to know more about what happened, which is probably a sign that I was enjoying the book!
"Grind" is a good interesting book. It is about 2 guys named wally and Phillip. They really like skateboarding. One day wally and Phillip were skating and then a professional "Bam Bam". Bam Bam started talking to them about his professional skater career. Bam bam told them how did he became famous. Then wally and Phillip had an idea, they wanted to make a website about them skating. They told Nevin, a guy who knows everything about computers. Nevin wanted to help them create the website. When everything was ready Phillip told his Ex-girlfriend "Lisa" to join them making skating videos, at first she didn't want to but wally and Phillip convinced her. The four of them gained money with the website.
This book was about a kid named Phillip. He wants to be a big skater in the world. He practices so much and is really good. He learns that it's not about the tricks that you miss. It's all about the tricks you make. I can relate to Phil because we both skate and know that sponsership is a big deal. It is important to know that even the best skaters still mess up a lot. What you see on tape isn't what you see in real life... I would give this book 4 stars because it was really funny and I can actually feel the emotions in the book. I just don't like how it's really short and tells the same thing over again. You make some jumps but you don't make others. It's still okay.
Philip LOVES to skateboard! He tries to go out every single day but something is getting in his way... When he has to get his schoolwork done before he goes skateboarding is when it gives him trouble. We'll one day after school he goes to a skate spot. When he gets there his friend Wally arrives. So they are just skating along and then someone in a car drives up and they are very scared. But come to realize it is a professional skateboarder who video tapes himself and puts them on his website. Philip wants to do it too and see if he can make money. But when they get hits on their videos the feel scared that they are gonna have to do bigger stunts.
This book is the best book i've ever read,because if you like skateboarding this is a great book to read. This book you can read it in a day if your fast, and if your slow it might take you some time. This book shows that if you want to accomplish something you can do it, and try to do it your self. This book gots romantic parts like when this boy wants to go out with his ex girlfriend or when he's doing his web site. This book is interesting if you get it, and if you are interested in this book go to the nearest website page to borrow it to read it, or buy it to keep it, and own it.
a boy named philip is a skateborder and has a "CREW" including wally, lisa, and nevin. they decide to create a website and get sponsors to make money they make some money but finds wally to be badly injured they are in the hospital deciding what's best. i would give a text to world because lots of people try getting sponsors and becoming famous such as tony hawk and ryan sheckler. i would give this book 5 stars because it is like the sewer rats book it is made especially for boys and of course any boy would want to read it because it has all skatboarding "action" in it.
this book is a bout a kid named phillip he loves to skate. phillip will do almost anything to be a big-time skateboarde. thers this 1 move or trick that he never can do but in the end of the bookj he does it. before he gets the trick or move he always geys injurs,brakes hes leg or hand. i connact this book to the world becoase ther are a lot of people who gets hert becoase of skateboaring.i gave this book 5 stars becoase it was sad and funny in the same time.aslother was a lot of skateing in it and intersting.
I thought Grind was a good book because it is about four kids ho are trying to make money from a web site. Two of the kids are skateboarding behind super save when a famous skate border comes. He says he is trying to get a video for his web site. He tells the kids he gets money because he has adds to click on and go to a different web site. He called the sponsors. The kids make their own web site. They are making money but they are doing dangerous stunts. Will they get severely hurt or get out OK.
this book is so great but it would be better if the made it longer is a fast red but its great specially if you like skateboarding and this is not like an all out sk8 book there's romantic parts there's also a bunch of peer-pressure which acually gets one of the main charecter friend killed for a trick but what i really like about this book is that it teaches you about making the right choices and not letting peer-pressure get to you =]