By: Jim Fitzpatrick 
Publisher: Cherry Lake Publishing 
Publication Date: August 2008 
ISBN: 978-1602792609 
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler 
Review Date: November 2009 

Snowboarding, amazingly enough, began in warmer waters "with surfers who rode the waves" in warm water, not snow. It was an easy move once surfers invented the skateboard to inventing the snowboard. The board used to be a bit cumbersome, but has evolved into the sleek board snowboarders use today. The first board, the "Snurfer," was actually the "combination of a wooden sled and a skateboard deck." Try getting anywhere with that! Ski areas didn't want boarders on their slopes, but improvements to the boards lessened the threat that the slopes would be trashed and they were quickly welcomed.

Snowboarders eventually created their own rules of the road so to speak. The rules are unwritten, but well understood. Safety is rule number one and you just don't snake in front of another skier or boarder. Boarders have quickly learned how to construct their own runs and half-pipes where they can demonstrate their tricks (and show off a bit!). In this book you will learn about snowboard equipment, safety, the interesting composition of the boards, clothing recommendations, you can find out if you are goofy-footed, you'll learn about the types of turns, tricks, and you'll read about some interesting innovators like Jake Burton Carpenter.

This is a very nice overview of the sport. It is not meant to be an instructional book, but rather one in which a youngster can read and dream about the sport. The layout is very nice replete with numerous full color photographs and some very informative sidebar materials. In these sidebars you can learn boarding lingo, read about innovated products such as the splitboard and learn about people like Tina Basich, the Godmother of Snowboarding. In the back of the book is an index, a glossary and additional recommended book and website resources.

Quill says: All aboard…a snowboard that is!