11/08/2021
In Roses’ spirited, distinctive book for middle-grade readers, a boy called Bonez navigates the world of professional skateboarding as well as his relationship with his first girlfriend, Peep. When Bonez beats reigning champ Sally in a high-profile skateboarding race, his life changes. Suddenly agents are knocking on his door, offering him fame and fortune in exchange for his talents and trademark “skeleton boy” logo. At the same time, Bonez gets to know and falls in love with Peep–though their connection falters when his new popularity goes to his head. These experiences teach Bonez important life lessons about maintaining focus, overcoming failure, and staying humble.
Readers also get to know Bonez’s lively lifelong friends Essie and Quigz, but the most refreshing character is the tough and fierce Sally, an exceptional skateboarder in her own right. The evolution of Sally’s relationship with Quigz is sweet and charming, growing from mutually antagonistic to empathetic and caring. Roses uses rhyming prose throughout this tale–it’s written, the press materials note, “like a song”–which sometimes comes across as surprising or clever but at others can be awkward or distracting: “Quigz walked over to the swing set and handed Sally the flowers. She took the pretty bunch from Quigz and down fell some tear showers.” The rhyming prose is laid out in paragraphs rather than verse form, and the dialogue is rendered in rhyme, too, formatted in the style of a script.
Simple black-and-white illustrations help bring the characters to life, showing Bonez and his friends skateboarding, teasing each other, and expressing a range of emotions. While appealing, the illustrations are not the star of this show, however; this story and its mature themes of being genuine are most appropriate for a preteen audience. Ultimately, Bonez learns that relationships are more important than winning any race, which will resonate with young readers who are just beginning to discover themselves.
Takeaway: The spirited story of a a boy called Bonez navigating the world of professional skateboarding–and his relationships.
Great for fans of: K.A. Holt’s House Arrest, Kevin Emerson’s Breakout.
Production grades Cover: B+ Design and typography: B+ Illustrations: B+ Editing: B Marketing copy: A-
2021-10-21
This debut rhyming book for kids follows the rise and fall of a skateboarding star.
Three teenage boys, Quigz, Essie, and Bonez, love to skateboard. White, red-haired Quigz is the quirky one; Essie, a Black skater, is the cool one; and Bonez—originally Gus, but he loves his T-shirt with a skeleton on it—is an all-around nice guy. He’s White, the best skater of the three, and looking forward to his town’s annual downhill skate race. This year, he hopes to beat dark-skinned Sally, the best skateboarder in town. She and her crew, the Goonsquad (three White brothers), are tough and combative, all hailing from the local orphanage. Bonez wins the race in a photo finish, gets a lucrative sponsorship contract, and becomes famous—which goes to his head. He cold-shoulders Peep, a sweet, blue-eyed girl and talented artist he’d dated once before his success. Meanwhile, Essie develops his interest in cooking and gets to know Bree, Peep’s best friend; Quigz reaches out to Sally, who’s in a funk after losing the race, with empathy and concern. When Bonez is eclipsed by another skater, he learns where happiness really comes from. With his verse-prose format, Mr. Roses achieves a lot of energy and bounce. But the sentences don’t always scan well and occasionally lead to awkward constructions, such as “to these magazines your photos I’ll send.” More traditional narration might have allowed for greater depth, although Bonez’s character arc is believable. Some readers may find the story’s inspirational quotations (“Genuine relationships are important indeed. / The more you have around you, the further you will succeed”) a bit preachy, if well intended. Illustrating her latest children’s book, Luecke provides monochrome drawings in a casual, comic style.
An entertaining and instructive, if sometimes uneven, skateboarding tale.
