SkateFate (4 page)

Authors: Juan Felipe Herrera

BOOK: SkateFate

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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 ZacarÃas Flores)

Pacifico Heights School,
Rm. #277

Acknowledgements

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, JoaquÃn, Joshua, Marlene & Robert
For Lucky Z.

SkateFate
Copyright Â© 2011 by Juan Felipe Herrera

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Herrera, Juan Felipe.

Â Â Â Â Skatefate / Juan Felipe Herrera. â 1st ed.

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
p. cm.

Â Â Â Â
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.

Â Â Â Â
ISBN 978-0-06-143287-3

Â Â Â Â
[1. Novels in verse. 2. PoetsâFiction. 3. People with disabilitiesâFiction. 4. High schoolsâFiction. 5. SchoolsâFiction. 6. Foster home careâFiction. 7. Moving, HouseholdâFiction. 8. Mexican AmericansâFiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.5.H466SkÂ Â Â Â 2011

[Fic]âdc22

2010014974
CIP
AC

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

First Edition