Slide or Die (DriftX Series #1)

by Todd Strasser, Craig Phillips (Illustrator)

Overview

Drift it. Sling it. Slide it. Shred it....
Just don't get T-boned.

Kennin is new to Sin City, running from a tragic past and anxious to start a life outside the gearhead crowd. But he can't resist the lure of all the hot, tricked-out cars in Las Vegas.

WhenKennin accidentally proves his talent, he's pulled into a tsuiso battle against the toughest drivers around. The competition is cutthroat, and Kennin's outsider status only makes it worse. With ugly rivalries and vicious sabotage all around him, Kennin's ride will be gut-wrenchingly dangerous...and totally amping.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416905813
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	01/01/2006
Series:	DriftX Series , #1
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	760L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Todd Strasser has written many critically acclaimed novels for adults, teenagers, and children, including the award-winning Can’t Get There from Here, Give a Boy a Gun, Boot Camp, If I Grow Up, Famous, and How I Created My Perfect Prom Date, which became the Fox feature film Drive Me Crazy. Todd lives in a suburb of New York and speaks frequently at schools. Visit him at ToddStrasser.com.

Craig Phillips has been creating cover art and drawings for books, comics, and magazines for nearly two decades. He is most at home working on tales about myth and magic. His latest book—Giants, Trolls, Witches, Beasts: Ten Tales from the Deep, Dark Woods—is a 200-page graphic novel about just that! It will be in stores in May 2017. When he is not drawing and writing, he likes to swim in the lakes and walk in the forests and mountains of New Zealand. Visit him at CraigPhillips.com.au.

Editorial Reviews

This first installment in a planned trilogy about cars, girls and race by veteran author Strasser (Give a Boy a Gun) introduces 16-year old Kennin Burnett. He has moved to Las Vegas from California with his older sister to be near their surviving parent-a dirtbag father, who's imprisoned in a Club Fed-type facility for Internet fraud. Kennin makes a friend, Tito, at the casino garage where they work washing the high-rollers' Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys. Though Kennin is deliberately vague, somewhere in his mysterious California past, he picked up a passion for "drifting," a form of racing which involves skidding around turns while going downhill. Though neither Tito nor Kennin is old enough to drive, Tito's sister, Angelita is. And in her, Kennin finds a mature soulmate, and a girl who knows her way around an RB25DET engine. She also owns a vehicle-a Nissan 240 SX. This becomes important when Kennin is recruited to compete against a racist classmate in a "tsuiso," the Japanese term for a two-car race to the bottom of the hill. The book ends, abruptly, without the race taking place, but the hip subject matter, manga-style illustrations, short chapters and quick pace are sure to attract an audience who will demand the next installment, Battle Drift, due in April. Ages 14-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up-This first book in a new series features drifting, a form of racing where the drivers glide cars sideways around curves while going downhill. After their mother died, half Japanese/half American 17-year-old Kennin and his older sister moved to a Las Vegas trailer park to be closer to their father, who is in a nearby prison serving time for Internet fraud. Kennin becomes friends with Tito and his sister Angelita, an expert at customizing cars. One night, Tito's cousin, recently released from jail, shows up in a stolen car and takes the three teens to a drifting event. When police suddenly arrive, he panics, afraid that he will be caught and re-incarcerated. Kennin takes over the wheel and uses his extraordinary driving skills to escape. Word about his feat soon gets around school and Kennin, taunted with racial epithets by his adversaries, is challenged to a race. Tempted by the money, and to prove his worth, he agrees but the story ends before the race takes place, indicating a sequel. Teens will be drawn to the colorful, comiclike cover, black-and-white sketches, car-racing action, and the growing attraction between Kennin and Angelita. A good choice for reluctant older readers.-Michele Capozzella, Chappaqua Public Library, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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