Grind: An Ode to Skateboarding

Gr 3-5–“Choose your board to suit your style,A deck to cruise mile after mile.” So begins a skateboarding celebration in verse by multiple award-winning author Weatherford (How Do You Spell Unfair??). With two lines per color-saturated spread, the beginner is urged to remember safety gear and to “learn to bail” before jumping in to try ollies, nollies, kick turns, tic tacs, kickflips, heelflips, or a new trick of their own invention. The illustrations have a dynamic, graphic flare, showing a variety of black outlined skateboarders doing their tricks against backgrounds of starbursts, circles, and bands of flat teal, purple, fuchsia, yellow, and orange. Angurria, known worldwide for his murals, uses dramatic perspectives to lend additional vigor and excitement to the pictures. While the text appears to speak to new skaters, it also assumes knowledge of the sport’s terminology, which is not usually illuminated in the pictures or a glossary. The skaters portrayed look to be teenagers at least, some with facial hair, rather than closer in age to the likely audience. Nor are any girls depicted, despite the fact that girls have been shredding since skateboards were invented, and women now compete in the sport at the Olympics.