The sports story is fun: skateboarding champ Mayumi Miyaki, 9, helps a TV broadcaster describe the sports action from his booth, and then she herself competes, performs amazing spins and board tricks, stays safe wearing a helmet, and—of course—wins. The real play, though, is with language. On every page, along with color cartoon graphics, there are words in bold type, while sidebars add definitions, some of them quite technical. Even if it interrupts the story, grade-schoolers will enjoy the interactive stuff with the sound and meaning of everyday words––not just homonyms but also homographs and homophones. Part of the Grammar All Stars: Kinds of Words series, this is a lively book for kids to talk about with adults, and the detailed back matter includes more about language rules, as well as wry examples of just how easy it is to get things wrong.
