Pier Pressure ANNOTATION
This original series is based on the fastest growing sport for girls--surfing. Luna, Rae, Kanani, Cricket, and Isobel work at a co-ed surf camp. While stressing over an upcoming competition, Luna is mesmerized by David--but he can't surf. Can she help David learn to love the waves?
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Luna, Rae, Kanani, Cricket, and Isobel are in for the summer of their lives working at Tuck and Cate's coed surfing camp. But these five girls are more than just counselors -- they're beach girls, best friends, and some of Luna Bay's top surfers.
Lately Luna's been stressing out while preparing for an upcoming surfing competition. She wants to do well, but living up to her mother's reputation as a former U.S. champion surfer isn't so easy. When Cate encourages her daughter to slow down, Luna thinks Cate doesn't believe she's good enough to follow in her footsteps.
At camp, Luna spots a boy who makes her heart rise like a wave. David, a newcomer from the East Coast, likes Luna, too, but there's just one problem -- he hates surfing! Will Luna be able to overcome her own fears and help David learn to love the harsh water? Or will their relationship and Luna's dreams come crashing down?
It's all about a passion for the sport ... and life.
Be sure to check out the latest surfscope and lovescope inside!
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
This tepid tale launches Luna Bay: A Roxy Girl Series, published in conjunction with Roxy, a fashion brand of Quiksilver, producer of surfing equipment and clothing. Set in the surfer-girl subculture, the series focuses on five California teens who are diehard surfers and best friends. Luna, whose parents run the surf camp at which she and her pals work as assistant counselors, takes center stage in this installment. Luna's summer agenda includes practicing for a big surfing competition that her mother won years before (she then went on to become a three-time women's world surfing champion). Luna's training efforts are sidetracked by her budding relationship with David, a good-looking yet seemingly moody camper with "full, almost pouting lips" and "brooding dark eyes that make Luna's throat catch." And she is at times overwhelmed by her fear that she'll fall short of her goal to win the championship, thereby failing to live up to her mother's expectations. Girls who surf or aspire to may want to ride this out. Others are likely to find the occasional surfing jargon hokey ("She makes the drop-barely-and pulls off a quick bottom turn before the lip slams her and she disappears into the soup") and the plot melodramatic and predictable. Due the same month is the next installment, Wave Good-bye. Ages 9-up. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Gr 5-8-This series centers on five surfer girls in Southern California. Tuck Martin and his wife, a ladies' champion, run the local surf shop and a surfing camp. In the first book, 16-year-old Luna Martin and her friends Rae, Kanani, Cricket, and Isobel are junior counselors at the camp for intermediate surfers. Luna develops a crush on David, a moody young man who seems to be sensitive and uncommunicative about something. And the fact that he can't seem to surf further puzzles her. Subplots involve Kanani and her attempts to discover who is polluting the cove, and the worries that Luna has about her upcoming competition at the Western Championship of the Amateur Surfing Association. Pier Pressure is a light beach read, literally. There is no real teenage angst-just five girls who want to have fun and meet cute boys. Think Gidget for the 21st century. Luna enjoys a good relationship with her parents, and for the most part, the girls' support groups are intact. Rae's parents do have some problems, a theme that is more fully developed in Wave Good-bye. The merchandising aspect of the series includes a Web site and an entry form for a shopping-spree sweepstakes. Nevertheless, these books, which are full of frothy adventure and surfer slang, provide some fun escapism for younger teens.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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