The F Team. Anne Laurel Carter. Illustrated by Rose Cowles. Victoria, BC: Orca, 2003. 32 pp., cloth, $19.95. ISBN 1-55143-241-2. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Ian Stewart. ** /4 Reviewed from f&g’s.

excerpt:

"They never even let me lace my skates up," Frieda groaned.
"And who are they to call us the F's? Go figure!" Frenchie moaned.

"That's it!" I cried. "On figure skates! Those A's deserve a fight.
We'll call ourselves the F team. First practice is tonight.

I'm good as gold on figure skates. I'll teach you if you'll try.
A spin a slide a sowcow*. This F team's going to fly."

* that's spelled salchow

The F team players are Fanny, Frenchie, Frieda, Flip, Flop, and Fred. They love to hockey, but no way can they make it on the town's fearsome A team. Fanny decides that, since the As call them Fs, she would teach her friends some fancy forms of figure skating. The finesse of splits, salchows, toe loops, lutzes and axels would give the Fs an edge on the ferocious forwards of the foul A team. After some frenzied practices, the Fs challenged the As to a game. Naturally, a fabulous festival of hockey ferocity was soon found on the town rink, and low and behold the razzle dazzle of the F team leads to their final victory. Their feat makes the F's famous, inspiring others and "Now the whole town comes out to try for an alphabet of teams." We can make our dreams come true if we try hard and there is room for all kinds of people in sports are the obvious messages of this little book. Rose Cowles illustrations are funny, engaging and truly capture the tone of the hockey game. However, the hard question we must face with the book is: Will Anne Carter's tortured rhyming style annoy teachers and confuse students, or will they find it kind of fun, wanting to read it again? Librarians and teachers will really have to ponder choosing this book for their collections.

Recommended with reservations.

Ian Stewart, a regular reviewer for the Winnipeg Free Press and a teacher at David Livingstone School in Winnipeg, MB, believes nothing in hockey was more elegant than Serge Savard's patented Savardian Spinarama.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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