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    SkateFate
    SkateFate
    SkateFate
    Ebook116 pages27 minutes

    SkateFate

    By Juan Felipe Herrera

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    From U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera comes the powerful journey of Chicano teen Lucky Z. A former skateboarder who's anything but lucky, he finds triumph and power through his voice. Raw, cool, real—this novel in verse is a shout-out to teens to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, to raise their voice and find strength in the sheer and simple power of expression.

    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. As you feel Lucky breathe in life again, you will want to shout out with him.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 22, 2011
    ISBN9780062089120
    SkateFate
    Author

    Juan Felipe Herrera

    Juan Felipe Herrera is the US Poet Laureate and was inspired by the fire-speakers of the early Chicano Movement and by heavy exposure to various poetry, jazz, and blues performance streams. His published works include 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971–2007; Border-Crosser with a Lamborghini Dream; Mayan Drifter: Chicano Poet in the Lowlands of the Americas; Thunderweavers / Tejedoras de rayos; Laughing Out Loud, I Fly, a Pura Belpré Honor Book; Américas Award winners CrashBoomLove and Cinnamon Girl; Calling the Doves / El canto de las palomas, which won the Ezra Jack Keats Award; and The Upside Down Boy / El niño de cabeza, which was adapted into a musical. He has received the National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship, and previously served as California Poet Laureate. He has taught at both California State University, Fresno, and University of California, Riverside, and held the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in Creative Writing. He lives in Fresno, California.

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    Reviews for SkateFate

    3/5

    7 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Beautiful imagery from a teens perspective. Powerful narrative.
    • 2/5
      Lively, intense verse that will especially appeal to YA boys.
    • 3/5
      Interesting mix of journal enteries/poetry.

    Book preview

    SkateFate - Juan Felipe Herrera

    Image of Section Title: Lucky Z's Journal

    boom-blam that was the last thing i heard.

    a so forever scream slid through me

    Is this a dream Lucky i asked myself

    just rolled here new foster parents new streets. new beats. new kids laughing out loud so what if i wear fruity tops skinny black pants so what if i sing to myself so what if i write in a hot-pink journal so what if i drag tons of art and poetry books. Levertov. Baudelaire. Van Gogh. Whitman. Neruda. Chagall. Passolini. hear me. Mattie Stepanek is my favorite. cuz he wrote poems sitting in his wheelchair breathing through a tube in his throat. scribbled them as fast as he could for everyone. yeah like that. that’s what it’s all about

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