The Hockey Card. Jack Siemiatycki and Avi Slodovnick. Illustrated by Doris Barrette. Montreal, PQ: Lobster Press, 2002. 32 pp., cloth, $21.95. ISBN 1894222-65-2. Subject Headings: Hockey-Juvenile fiction. Hockey stories, Canada (English). Grades 1-4 / Ages 6-9. Review by Lorraine Douglas. *** /4

excerpt:

Uncle Jack had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was down to his last two cards and there was no way he could win the other ones back. To make matters worse, some of the boys were laughing at him.

One kid even shouted, “Sucker!”

Uncle Jack flipped and lost. That left him with only one card. But it wasn’t just any card. It was his favorite. It was a card of Maurice “the Rocket” Richard, the greatest hockey player who ever lived.

One night Uncle Jack tells his nephew a bedtime story about his childhood collection of hockey cards. Then his nephew narrates the nostalgic tale of Uncle Jack’s favorite hockey card - the one of Maurice Richard. Although this seems to be an awkward construct, the story flows as smoothly as the images of “Rocket Richard ” gliding around the page edges of this picture book.

     At school, Uncle Jack is challenged by Sylvester Kornpot to play a game of “even and odds.” At lunch time, the two flip their cards in the air, and the winner will take all. Jack loses all his cards - except for his precious card of Maurice Richard. Magically, the game changes in the wink of an eye!

     The illustrations by well-known Quebec illustrator Doris Barrette match the lightheartedness of the tale. The cover colours of red, white and blue echo the team colours of Richard’s Montreal Canadians hockey club. Inside, the characters are deftly drawn in warm tones in an appealing style. This story nicely complements Roch Carrier’s classic The Hockey Sweater (Tundra, 1984) as both stories are a tribute to the great hockey era of the Montreal Canadians and Maurice Richard.

Recommended.

Lorraine Douglas is the Youth Services Coordinator for the Winnipeg Public Library in Winnipeg, MB.

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

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

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