Grind

By Eric Walters

Phillip 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, Phillip 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 increasingly dangerous stunts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Sep 1, 2004
• ISBN: 9781551434216

Eric Walters

Eric Walters, a former elementary school teacher, is a bestselling children’s author in Canada. He is the founder of Creation of Hope, which provides care for orphans in the Makueni district of Kenya. His recent books include The Rule of Three series and Nothing to Fear.

Reviews for Grind

[keatkin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This e-book version offered through Tumblereadables provides a welcome alternative format to the traditional Orca Soundings chapter books. As an e-book, each chapter is broken up into small section over 5-10 pages, making the task of reading a novel much less daunting and giving the reader the immediate satisfaction of accomplishment. No audio track is provided, but there are many useful features such as a table of contents for easy access, bookmarking capability, and additional options to customize the text according to font, size, colour, and spacing. Identified as a high interest / low level vocabulary novel, the story follows a pattern of short dialogues between the characters, with limited narrative - which reads exceptionally well in the e-book format. Students will connect with the skateboard lingo such as grind, fakie, 360s, and descriptions of various skateboarding manoeuvres, but more savvy readers may find some of the scenerios and the conclusion a little contrived. Home access available with a public library card or school library subscription.