Michael Harmon offers an authentic and tough new skateboarder narrator for teen guy readers. Skate sounds gritty, and it is. But for all the hard subjects it takes on (a parent's drug addiction, abandonment, rage, punching a teacher), it's an emotional and nuanced story of the bond between two brothers in search of family. And the dialogue is fast, spot-on, and often very funny.
Now in paperback, Skate was Michael Harmon's debut, and it's a stunner. It's hard to believe he's not a full-time writer; Harmon runs two businesses and writes on the side when he can. Michael Harmon met Chris Crutcher (they live in the same city), and Crutcher quickly became his writing mentor as soon as he read his work. This paperback edition is timed with Mike's next novel for young adults on the Knopf list.
