TO BE PUBLISHED IN MARCH
Written by Jana Maasik
Illustrations and design by Urmas Viik
Edited by Signe Kure
Published by Päike ja Pilv, 224 pages, paperback
Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia
FROM THE BACK COVER
To teachers, parents, and all kinds of officials, I am Hendrik.
My friends call me Henk.
I’m fourteen years old, and I like Alfred’s garden. I also like doing skateboard tricks in the bowl. One official once said that I couldn’t live like a stray dog, waiting for random passersby to toss me a scrap of food. But he got that completely wrong. Nobody tosses scraps to stray dogs — they call the dog catchers. And it wasn’t passersby who helped me anyway. It was my friends.
sample
The skateboard drops to the ground. I push off. My breathing shifts. And then there is only the ramp, my worn board, and me.
Every movement deliberate, muscle memory trained by hundreds of falls, balancing on the edge of risk — the way I always do when everything starts piling up over my head. I pull off my best tricks. I do the “Henk series” and another trick line that I haven’t named yet.
Everything works out really well. I hear the boys’ approval and know that Iti is watching me.
I tell myself I don’t care at all.
She can stare all she wants.
Reading materials
✓Sample of one chapter in English & synopsis
✓Estonian edition