Skinner's Banks (The Seven Stair Crew Series)

by Brad V. Cowan

Overview

Cale Finch has just won second place in a skateboarding competition when he's ambushed on his way home by a member of a rival crew, the Mental Posse. They steal the money that Cale was going to use to replace his broken skateboard. Cale feels embarrassed by what happened, so he doesn't tell anyone right away.
Eventually, Mark Skinner, an older skater, finds out, and offers to help Cale get the money back. But before he does, tragedy strikes and Mark is killed in a car accident. Cale has to deal with the loss of his friend and hero -- and find the courage to stand up to the bullies himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459405233
Publisher:	James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
Publication date:	09/18/2013
Series:	Lorimer Seven Stair Crew Series
Sold by:	De Marque
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
Lexile:	920L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Growing up, BRAD V. COWAN was no stranger to the best places to skateboard in the Toronto area. He works in television and film, working as producer of the West 49 Ambition Camp TV series, in which eight of the countrys best skaters went head-to-head in a skateboarding competition. He now writes for TV and film.

Editorial Reviews

"Does an incredible job at bridging the gap between readers and skaters...Cowan uses terminology and a vocabulary that the reader will understand in a way that is not belittling or counterfeit. All readers will still get something out of this well-written sports adventure book."

Resource Links

2014-02-26
In the second volume of a Canadian trilogy, 12-year-old skateboarder Cale Finch makes a skate video with the Seven Stair Crew, of which he is newly a member. When the story opens, Cale has just "ollied the Seven Stairs," earning his place among the older boys who make up the Seven Stair Crew. He lives with his single mom, has a crush on classmate Angie Phillips and is afraid of Tweeze, a skateboarding bully from the next town over. Then the Seven Stairs Crew decides to put together a video of their best tricks, and a local skateboarding hero volunteers his help...and some information about Cale's family history. There are a lot of storylines for such a short book, and none of them is explored especially thoroughly. Shooting the video is frustrating, but the frustration seems to resolve itself. The boys sneak out to film late at night, so that no one can kick them out of the best skating spots in town, and take uncomfortable risks with firecrackers, but an accident happens to a character largely unrelated to their late-night activities (and, unsettlingly, footage of a crew member throwing firecrackers at a drunk interloper is positively received when the film premieres). Exciting skating action and easy-to-relate-to issues but too much going on in too little space. (Fiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews