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SkateFate
I wanted to roar out
touch things i had never touched. to see if it was true. was i still here was this life still here. on this side. whatever you call it dude. wanted to touch everything like van Gogh touched and smeared everything when he painted. so i wrote it and spoke it. maybe mama would hear me. cuz i could hear her. sayin' When your heart hurts, sing. wherever you go.
Lucky Z has always lived on the edge—he loved to skateboard, to drag race, to feel alive. But things have taken a turn—he's living with new foster parents and a tragic past. An accident changed everything. And only his voice will set him free.
touch things i had never touched. to see if it was true. was i still here was this life still here. on this side. whatever you call it dude. wanted to touch everything like van Gogh touched and smeared everything when he painted. so i wrote it and spoke it. maybe mama would hear me. cuz i could hear her. sayin' When your heart hurts, sing. wherever you go.
Lucky Z has always lived on the edge—he loved to skateboard, to drag race, to feel alive. But things have taken a turn—he's living with new foster parents and a tragic past. An accident changed everything. And only his voice will set him free.
128 pages, Hardcover
Published February 22, 2011
About the author
Juan Felipe Herrera
82 books138 followersJuan Felipe Herrera is the only son of Lucha Quintana and Felipe Emilio Herrera; the three were campesinos living from crop to crop on the roads of the San Joaquín Valley, Southern California and the Salinas Valley. Herrera's experiences as the child of migrant farmers have strongly shaped his work, such as the children's book Calling the Doves, which won the Ezra Jack Keats award in 1997. He is a poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist who draws from real life experiences as well as years of education to inform his work. Community and art has always been part of what has driven Herrera, beginning in the mid-seventies, when he was director of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, an occupied water tank in Balboa Park converted into an arts space for the community.
Herrera’s publications include fourteen collections of poetry, prose, short stories, young adult novels and picture books for children in the last decade with twenty-one books in total.
Herrera’s publications include fourteen collections of poetry, prose, short stories, young adult novels and picture books for children in the last decade with twenty-one books in total.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 28, 2016
So while browsing for something new to read and one that I haven't heard of and well, the size of the book as well, I noticed this and it was okay. Interesting but okay. In a way its verse but it has poems and has a story in a way. I wasn't sure what rating to give this. But 3 sounds about right.
April 15, 2011
*I received a hardback copy of this book for review from HaperTeen*
So, I really couldn't tell you exactly what this book was about. It is in no way a conventional novel. From what I gathered, it is the poetic writings of Lucky Z, a young teenage boy who has lost his mother to breast cancer, who's father left him and his mother after coming home from Iraq, who is living in foster care, who was in a terrible accident that left him in a wheel chair, and may have been shot by a kid in school(?). Oh, and he really likes to skate. Lucky expresses his pain, fear, sorrow, and uncertainty about what he is going to do with his life through creative writing. While this book has some beautiful written poetry, filled with great alteration and fantastic use of the open form, there truly was no discernible plot-line or story for that matter. Honestly, this was just to "smart" for me and went way over my head.
I don't know who I would recommend this book to. Maybe teens who are interested in poetry? But in that case, I'd tell them to go pick up some E.E. Cummings or check out Sylvia Plath.
If I were to rate this book based on the story, I'd give it a one. If I were to rate this book based on the writing, I'd give it a three.
And so, it gets a two.
So, I really couldn't tell you exactly what this book was about. It is in no way a conventional novel. From what I gathered, it is the poetic writings of Lucky Z, a young teenage boy who has lost his mother to breast cancer, who's father left him and his mother after coming home from Iraq, who is living in foster care, who was in a terrible accident that left him in a wheel chair, and may have been shot by a kid in school(?). Oh, and he really likes to skate. Lucky expresses his pain, fear, sorrow, and uncertainty about what he is going to do with his life through creative writing. While this book has some beautiful written poetry, filled with great alteration and fantastic use of the open form, there truly was no discernible plot-line or story for that matter. Honestly, this was just to "smart" for me and went way over my head.
I don't know who I would recommend this book to. Maybe teens who are interested in poetry? But in that case, I'd tell them to go pick up some E.E. Cummings or check out Sylvia Plath.
If I were to rate this book based on the story, I'd give it a one. If I were to rate this book based on the writing, I'd give it a three.
And so, it gets a two.
October 8, 2019
2.5 stars
June 14, 2011
“[B]lam blam that was the last thing I heard” begins this fictional poetic journal of a boy named Lucky. Dedicated to a teen victim of a hate crime, and to boys who love the color pink, Skate Fate’s poetry challenges the reader. This is not an easy read. The style and subject matter of the poems is multifarious. Reading the book is a bit like excavating the backpack of a fifteen year old skater, you never know what you might find, you just know it wont be spelled conventionally. A poem is written from the perspective of an apple turnover. A poem meditating on metro card jottings is followed by one “on the girl tree struck by lightning in the middle of nowhere.” The structure of the poems varies widely and includes idiosyncratic spacing and capitalization that sometimes seems to mimic texting errors and sometimes imitates the careening path of a skateboard, banking and grinding and jumping obstacles. Patience and multiple readings are required to decipher and piece together Lucky’s narrative. His life is filled with violent events that belie his name, yet his voice is unrelentingly joyful. The final poem explicitly instructs us to “skate a poem.” Lucky recognizes that the act of creating is the act of dreaming and “when you are dreaming that is when you are awake…” While unlikely to fly off the shelf, this volume may intrigue teens passionate about self-expression and has much to say about transcending brutal realities.
November 12, 2012
Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
When you read Lucky Z.'s story, you are reading his most personal thoughts in what he describes as his "hot-pink" journal. Some prose, but mostly poetry, expresses his pain and suffering and how he comes to terms with what life has dealt him.
Lucky Z. might not appear lucky as he describes the screws in his legs and a bumpy scar on his forehead as he sits in his wheelchair. All of this is the result of a senseless accident. It's an accident that killed a friend and has him trying to make sense of what is left.
Thanks to cancer, his mother is gone, and his father is more interested in alcohol and violence than he is in his son. Now living in a foster home, Lucky Z. pours out his feelings in his verse.
SKATE FATE is tightly written and requires concentration and focus from the reader. Herrera's poems reveal Lucky Z.'s passion and pain, but without the use of conventional mechanical structure, readers will find it a challenging read.
When you read Lucky Z.'s story, you are reading his most personal thoughts in what he describes as his "hot-pink" journal. Some prose, but mostly poetry, expresses his pain and suffering and how he comes to terms with what life has dealt him.
Lucky Z. might not appear lucky as he describes the screws in his legs and a bumpy scar on his forehead as he sits in his wheelchair. All of this is the result of a senseless accident. It's an accident that killed a friend and has him trying to make sense of what is left.
Thanks to cancer, his mother is gone, and his father is more interested in alcohol and violence than he is in his son. Now living in a foster home, Lucky Z. pours out his feelings in his verse.
SKATE FATE is tightly written and requires concentration and focus from the reader. Herrera's poems reveal Lucky Z.'s passion and pain, but without the use of conventional mechanical structure, readers will find it a challenging read.
April 26, 2011
This really wasn't my cup of tea. This little book combines poetry and journal entries to tell the story of a Hispanic foster child who was injured in an accident and now is confined to a wheelchair. He suffers bullying and abuse because he is not only physically challenged, but he is also gay. The journal entries are quite moving, but I couldn't get engaged with the poems (the bulk of the text), which are supposed to appeal to a young, hip crowd. Stanzas like "for the computer tech nerd--/licorice sticks tangled up into algebra/& a greasy skateboard losing it electric/for the seventeen & a half year old test-driving/a new speedy ride--" just don't grab me. I think there's a lot of good, edgy poetry for teens out there that would be a better choice.
January 22, 2013
I deeply remember Albus Dumbledore saying to Harry Potter once, "Words are an inexhaustible source of magic." I am reminded of Albus Dumbledore's words of wisdom as I read "SkateFate," a novel composed of poetic writings. The protagonist, Lucky Z, expresses his experiences through pure speech. Although his mother died from breast cancer, his father leaving his mother and him behind after returning from Iraq, and he was disabled in mobility after a tragic accident, he figured the essence of his life has not been entirely dried of magic. Lucky Z still has passion, and he keeps skating through creative writing, because he follows a fundamental principle derived from his mother, "When your heart hurts, sing. Wherever you go."
November 28, 2016
If you want to try Herrera, this might be good-Lucky Z's story is full of contradictions, pain and joy all at the same time. The poetry rolls off your tongue (or should I say, skates?). Written in the form of Lucky's journal, we know that he has lost his friend, his mom and his dad. He is in a wheelchair but still writes in his pink journal and his poetry is exuberant and unexpected. Herrera is one of the great ones.
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August 23, 2013Well. The poetry was great. As poetry. But as someone else said in their review, I wouldn't have understood much of the plot. I could gather a little information but nothing much.
I love the way Juan has made the poetry unique by the unusual writing style and the layout.
I love the way Juan has made the poetry unique by the unusual writing style and the layout.
February 5, 2019
Looked short and I've been wanting to try and read a verse - novel because they are pretty popular with the kiddos right now but this was not a good first intro. Maybe it is because I was hurrying, but I didn't get a lot of what was going on - The best parts were his handwritten notes I think.
March 12, 2011
Read for professional review.
October 30, 2011
YES! More books like this for YAL audience please.
December 14, 2011
Lively, intense verse that will especially appeal to YA boys.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews