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Skateboard Tough
As soon as Brett Thyson steps on "The Lizard", the mysterious skateboard he unearthed in his backyard, he can feel its power. It glides smoothly and effortlessly, but Brett can't shake off the feeling that there's something not quite right about it.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
5 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
438 books141 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
April 17, 2010
Skateboard Tuff written by Brown Little is about a boy who when he moves into a new house finds a mysterious looking trunk in his backyard. As he is going through the trunk he finds this skateboard. He is usually known as the loser not very well know skater on the block. Once he gets the board out of the trunk he decides to go outside and test it out. As he starts to skate, he starts to do these trick that he has never imagined he would ever be able to do. Later in the story he uses this so called "demonic" skateboard to enter skate comps and ends up winning a lot of money in them. He then later finds out that a pro skater named Lizard king used to live at his house and that it was his old skateboard and thats why he got so good. Overall i thought this book was really good and would really enjoy reading it a second time. I would recommend this book to people who like fictional stories and for people who like to read about any type of action sports.
November 26, 2007
Tha book is about a group of boys that love skateboarding but in his town they not acept that they can do skate because is dangerous and a boy die dooing skate.Then a boy deside to make a park but they don't have the money to pay it. In that trouble the boy found the skate of the boy that had die and he stay is and he began to be the best skater with that skate. In a competition that he gets he was the best and the price was money but then he see that the skate was very bad because it tent to him and he left the skate. A lady that love very much the boy pay for the park and all the touwn acept that and then the boys always skate inthat park and thats the end.
October 7, 2010
This book was about a boy finding a skateboard barred in his yard from the persone who lived there so he finds it and keeps it to his self.
A lady moved in across the street and were he's from it's eligal to skate on the street and the lady that moved in was nice enough to built them a skatepark
A lady moved in across the street and were he's from it's eligal to skate on the street and the lady that moved in was nice enough to built them a skatepark
April 19, 2017
It's a good book for young children that like to skateboard.
March 6, 2024
Jacks review: good, I liked when he found the skateboard.
February 21, 2016
Brett Tyson loves skateboarding. He is skating down the Springfield sidewalks because they have no skate parks. He is doing his traditional routine when he hears a shout down the sidewalk, he know who this is, it is his "arch-rival" Kyle Robinson. Kyle zooms past on his skateboard and turns the corner and is gone. Kyle is the best skateboarder in Springfield. When Brett gets home he finds the construction on his house is stopped due to a strange box in the soil. When they get the box out Brett pries it open with a crowbar and gasps, he takes out a skateboard and reads the bottom., The Lizard it said. Later that week he is skating down the sidewalk and hears a bark,he skids to a stop and just in time because a dog is 2 inches away from the tip of the board. He hears a woman yelling at him from the distance but he also hears Kyle laughing at him from a nearby bush. Brett says "Be quiet Kyle" and rides away. About a week later Brett decides that he should write a letter to the newspaper writer and have him or her post an article about getting the skateboarders a skate park. A few days later he sees the article in the newspaper. He rides past a house and sees tons of construction vehicles around it,he rides over and notices to his amazement, they are building a skate park in old Mrs. Weatherspoons backyard. Now Brett thought that that was cool, he later finds out that there will be a contest held 2 Saturdays from then. He is riding back home to his house when his friend W.E. (walking encyclopedia) runs up to him and says his new board the Lizard is hexed or haunted. Brett doesn't believe him and goes on to win the skateboarding contest.
I like this book because their is a lot of mystery with the board being haunted and at the end someone stole the Lizard. I also like the style with how the author writes with the stories not all sports but also mystery and some drama at points. I like this book because it leaves cliff-hangers and a lot of suspense.
I like this book because their is a lot of mystery with the board being haunted and at the end someone stole the Lizard. I also like the style with how the author writes with the stories not all sports but also mystery and some drama at points. I like this book because it leaves cliff-hangers and a lot of suspense.
March 30, 2011
Alright, once again I'm reading a cliche, i think everyone has read a Matt christopher sports book bjust because they are in every school library and there are like 70 different books he has written. At the top of the book it says number 1 best selling sports series. I liked this one in peticular because alot of people do not see skateboarding as a sport because you dont throw a ball or really compete in any way against a team or whatever so I was intrigued to see what was gonna happen.
Basically Brett finds this skateboard called the lizard and after he finds it he starts doing all these incredible tricks. One thing I absoloutley LOVE about this book is that it was written before the years 2000 so there is so much that doesnt sound right even if you dont skate. I think everyone knows what a grind is or even if you dont know what a nose grind is you can just guess you just hop up onto something and grind it with the nose of the board, so I couldnt stop laughing after the fact that brett does this trick and this kid who knows every trick in the book that follows him around says ooooo! you just pulled off a NOSE GRIND! And brett is like Uhhh... whats a nose grind wha! who! what! where! when! How! Oh my god... Nose grind ahhhh whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat issssss thisssss! And so after he accomplishes this he starts doing all these other tricks that make compltelely no sense like a backside cheeze doodle and I'm like WHAT! Or a hershey bar twist and I'm still sittin there like uh... are there any tricks that dont involve food.
Basically Brett finds this skateboard called the lizard and after he finds it he starts doing all these incredible tricks. One thing I absoloutley LOVE about this book is that it was written before the years 2000 so there is so much that doesnt sound right even if you dont skate. I think everyone knows what a grind is or even if you dont know what a nose grind is you can just guess you just hop up onto something and grind it with the nose of the board, so I couldnt stop laughing after the fact that brett does this trick and this kid who knows every trick in the book that follows him around says ooooo! you just pulled off a NOSE GRIND! And brett is like Uhhh... whats a nose grind wha! who! what! where! when! How! Oh my god... Nose grind ahhhh whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat issssss thisssss! And so after he accomplishes this he starts doing all these other tricks that make compltelely no sense like a backside cheeze doodle and I'm like WHAT! Or a hershey bar twist and I'm still sittin there like uh... are there any tricks that dont involve food.
March 21, 2014
I would have to say that this is one of my top 3 books that I've read from Matt Christopher, but as is with the other ones, there are flaws. Personally I enjoy the fact that it has sports and is a sort of mystery, but there isn't enough detail before it jumps to the plot. The problem stays the same throughout the entire book. The thing is that the plot started right when he got the skateboard, which was in the first 5 pages. I understand it is a "younger" type of book, but even little kids like a bit more of a story. Even though it started like that, the story did make sense. It is something my little cousin would enjoy reading the next time I see him. Nice to have the chance to read it.
April 2, 2018
Brett tries the Lizzard after it is dug up on his parents property. It is a really talented skateboard with a mind of it's own?
January 8, 2022
I got this book by accident. Bought a bunch of books at Christmas and the company added this one in on accident. It was an easy read and one that I will pass along to my kiddos at work. The story was kind of all over the place and I feel like didn’t really explain at lot of things. But overall was decent. The kids will definitely enjoy it.
April 2, 2020
Skateboarding is awesome!
Read
March 29, 2023It had great content
May 29, 2023
Research book for me. Good overall. Brett (the hero) REALLY shows some egotism and anger management issues when he gets a hot new skateboard, but is it really caused by the skateboard?
January 5, 2024
Read this with my 11-year old skateboarding son. Neither of us were huge fans. I'm glad that there are books about skateboarding, but this one wasn't very well-written or believable.
September 11, 2025
It was fine for a kids book I guess but it left just about every question unanswered and no one likes that, but especially not kids.
September 30, 2008
Devan Hilleshiem
10-1-08
8-2
Skateboard Tough
Author: Mathew Christopher.
This book is great if you love sports like skateboarding or rollerblading, a boy named Brett Thyson finds a sweet skateboard in his back yard that he just moved into.
Brett then tried out the new sweet skateboard with flames and sweet grip tape on it.
Brett was now performing tricks he has never even seen before! Brett was amazed by how good he became. Brett was showing off to his new friends at school they thought he was amazing, he also was showing off to some other kids that were also skateboarders at the school. A kid thought he was no good his name was Kyle, Brett and Kyle then become enemies in the book. Not long after Kyle was looking into the skateboard and told some people at school he stole the skateboard from a pro skateboarder named Lance Hawker. Lance hawker was a pro skateboarder that died in a car accident. Brett looked more into the skater and found some pictures of Lance with the board, Brett began to think it was true, but he kept thinking why was it in my backyard? Brett told his friends at school and they came to think his family bought the house Lance had lived in, that was the only explanation.
There is a great ending to this book too! To find out you should read this book its my favorite book I have ever read. I wish I found a magical skateboard owned by a pro that would be amazing.
10-1-08
8-2
Skateboard Tough
Author: Mathew Christopher.
This book is great if you love sports like skateboarding or rollerblading, a boy named Brett Thyson finds a sweet skateboard in his back yard that he just moved into.
Brett then tried out the new sweet skateboard with flames and sweet grip tape on it.
Brett was now performing tricks he has never even seen before! Brett was amazed by how good he became. Brett was showing off to his new friends at school they thought he was amazing, he also was showing off to some other kids that were also skateboarders at the school. A kid thought he was no good his name was Kyle, Brett and Kyle then become enemies in the book. Not long after Kyle was looking into the skateboard and told some people at school he stole the skateboard from a pro skateboarder named Lance Hawker. Lance hawker was a pro skateboarder that died in a car accident. Brett looked more into the skater and found some pictures of Lance with the board, Brett began to think it was true, but he kept thinking why was it in my backyard? Brett told his friends at school and they came to think his family bought the house Lance had lived in, that was the only explanation.
There is a great ending to this book too! To find out you should read this book its my favorite book I have ever read. I wish I found a magical skateboard owned by a pro that would be amazing.
November 3, 2022
I Love this book mostly because it is about skateboarding but it was so interesting about how the skateboard made him so good because it was haunted and it kept on getting more competitive through the book this book was probably the better book ive read.
Read
November 3, 2007I liked this book
October 14, 2009
this book is a scary hunted kind of book
Want to read
March 4, 2015Listed as Q3 = A good story with some faults, P3 = A booktalk on this title will excite most people’s interest
June 6, 2009
also read in like 5th grade. i dont remember the book but i know i read it
Read
October 27, 2011I think boys would love this book. I got it from the IUS LIbrary.
Read
March 9, 2018The book Skateboard Tough was a fiction book about a boy named Brett Thyson who discovered a new skateboard in a box from his yard and basically he feels more confident of riding his new skateboard than his old one where he can do more tricks that he couldn't even do before. Later on he challenges Kyle Robinson to prove himself that he owns the street as a skateboarder but at the same time still wondering why would someone bury the skateboard that he has found. This book was interesting because throughout the story Brett really was just an average boy with a regular skateboard until he discovered the new skateboard in the yard and it changed his life because more confident in his skills and felt that he could do anything but ultimately he went back to his old skateboard which was surprising to me because even though the new skateboard made him the best skateboarder he couldn't just forget about the first original skateboard he had.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
January 30, 2019It was a pretty good book, but I kind of enjoyed it, it wasn't my favorite or my least favorite.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews