SkateFate (4 page)

Klarissa hugged me. started to sing a melody. outta nowhere. totally. everyone in class was applauding. like everything was comin' outta me. for the first time in my life. the sky. the door that Jason Blocker cracked. and the fire that filled. me

& there is nowhere to

go o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

you know you know

down below & high a b o v e

it's all the same

you are singing

 

LUCKY Z.

(aka Luciano Zacarías Flores)

Pacifico Heights School,
Rm. #277

For Alyson Day, my editor,
who saw this before I imagined it
For Julie Kline, who heard it before I did
For Kendra Marcus, my agent,
who asked me to be patient
For Margarita,
my partner, who simply knows it
For Lauro Flores,
who believed in me from the start
For Nicole Chang, my niece,
and her husband, Luke, &
their most beautiful children, Jeremy, Hailey,
Anthoney, & Jonathan
For my granddaughter, Rayne
For Victor Martinez, brother, sensei,
For Tom Lutz, for his eye
For Mario Garza, for the fab design draft
For my familia Herrera in Mesquite, N.M.
For my children,
Almasol, Joaquín, Joshua, Marlene & Robert
For Lucky Z.

SkateFate
Copyright © 2011 by Juan Felipe Herrera

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Herrera, Juan Felipe.

    Skatefate / Juan Felipe Herrera. — 1st ed.

        
p. cm.

    
Summary: Lucky Z, a Chicano foster child, loved living on the edge until a drag racing accident left him in a wheelchair, but as he struggles to find his place in a new high school, he begins writing poetry everywhere about anything, and in finding his voice he also discovers the beauty around him.

    
ISBN 978-0-06-143287-3

    
[1. Novels in verse. 2. Poets—Fiction. 3. People with disabilities—Fiction. 4. High schools—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction. 6. Foster home care—Fiction. 7. Moving, Household—Fiction. 8. Mexican Americans—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.5.H466Sk    2011

[Fic]—dc22

2010014974
CIP
AC

11  12  13  14  15    LP/RRDB    10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

First Edition

EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780062089120

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

New Zealand

HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

P.O. Box 1 Auckland,

New Zealand

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

77-85 Fulham Palace Road

London, W6 8JB, UK

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

10 East 53rd Street

New York, NY 10022

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com