Take Off: Impact Zone, Get Tubed, Vol. 1 »

Todd Strasser has written many award-winning novels, including Boot Camp, Can't Get There from Here, Give a Boy a Gun, How I Changed My Life, and How I Created My Perfect Prom Date, which was adapted for the Fox feature film Drive Me Crazy. He decided to write If I Grow Up after visiting several inner-city schools and reading about the growing problem of gangs. Strasser frequently speaks at schools about the craft of writing and conducts writing workshops for young people. He lives in a suburb of New York City.

Impact Zone: The most dangerous part of the wave. You gotta beat it...or you'll eat it.

Kai is stoked when he gets to Sun Haven. He hasn't been on a board in a while. And SH has some primo waves.

Screamers is the spot where you can regularly get tubed. Only it's patrolled by locals who keep it to themselves. They'll only let Kai into the lineup if he competes against one of them. This is everything Kai hates about surfing — the competition, the commercialism. He's a free surfer at heart. But if he doesn't take the challenge, he'll lose what he lives for: da kine waves.

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-These books follow a summer in the life of Kai, a 15-year-old who has been forced to live with his con-artist father and dim-witted stepbrother ever since his mother died in a car accident. In Take Off, Kai arrives in the coastal town of Sun Haven (near New York City), where his father plans to set up yet another T-shirt store to scam tourists. He is immediately drawn to the ocean, which brings back memories, both pleasant and painful, of his surfing experiences in Hawaii, where he lived with his mom. He is eager to hit the waves, but quickly discovers that the best spot in town is off-limits to everyone but the wealthy and arrogant Lucas Frank and his friends. Kai is not only determined to surf Screamers, but to open it up to everyone. In Cut Back, Kai once again stands up to Lucas and his gang by helping his new friend, a teen with Tourette's Syndrome, surf in a local competition. While the abundant surfing lingo and descriptions make these books most appealing to enthusiasts of the sport, there's enough going on to hold the interest of a general audience. The plots are a bit far-fetched, but most of the teen characters are well drawn, while others, like Kai's father and stepbrother, are completely one-dimensional. Buy where surfing books or titles by this author are popular.-Ashley Larsen, Woodside Library, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.