Review by Booklist Review
A cold snap brings a week of 20-below temperatures in a rural community and transforms the pondlike beaver flood into a skating rink of smooth, perfect ice, soon covered with snow. Though impatient to try it, the kids hold off until the moon grows big and bright. Late one afternoon, armed with hockey sticks, seven hurry downhill to the ice in the woods and take turns shoveling off the snow and warming themselves by the fire. They wait for the moon to rise before gliding onto the perfect ice and playing hockey. After sharing tea and sandwiches, they walk home together. In a story based on his father's youth, Harbridge uses simple, sensory words to recreate the kids' experiences and refers to their glistening ice rink as that silent slash of silver in the cold, black night. The energetic artwork features childlike depictions of people, interesting color contrasts, and richly varied textures in scenes created with acrylic paints and india ink. An unusual, evocative picture book with a hockey theme and vivid, wintry setting.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-As ducks fly south for the winter, kids wait impatiently for the full moon and the promise of ice on the beaver flood. When it finally arrives, they trek through the fresh-fallen snow to play hockey under the moonlight before clambering back to the warmth of their beds. This seemingly straightforward tale about a group of children playing hockey is grander than it first appears. Poignant figurative language makes their walk and first skate in the woods a quest, as they return home "like knights in armor, lances over our shoulders, hoods like helmets around our faces." Nature is alive, personified throughout as cold "biting noses and cheeks," "playful snow" with a watchful moon observing it all. Harbridge uses language to create a space where magic happens, providing an opportunity for extraordinary things to occur in an ordinary world. Acrylic paint and India ink illustrations in rich jewel tones evoke the frosty chill of deep winter nights and James's choices in changing perspective stimulates interest. At times, readers are in the middle of the action, racing across the ice, while in other scenes they are small and gazing up at the omnipresent moon. The moon always takes center stage in this original story about the benefits of waiting and the inherent beauty of simple things: friends, a game of hockey, and a moonlit night. VERDICT An exquisite selection for older elementary readers, this is a first purchase for school and public libraries.-Rachel Zuffa, Racine Public Library, WI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In this paean to Canada's national sport, rural children wait through an increasingly wintry December for...what? The mystery is gently teased in the lyrical text and in James's majestic but homey paintings that glint with moonlit snow until the magical moment when the moon is full and the beaver flood iced over and ready for skates. An unusual, mystical complement to the usual hockey books. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
It is a ritual with many moving parts. So it is rare, and so it is magic.This story takes place in the north. Could be Canada, or Minnesota, or New York. All that matters is that it is north, where the cold bites, which is one of the prerequisites. "When you walk in the woods, the leaves shatter under your feet like glass." Bone-cracking cold keeps the wind down and closes the ice crystals tight on the beaver pond. A small, diverse company of kids is anxious to get on the ice. Things could go wronga sudden warming, rain, a wet snowbut even during the daytime, James keeps the artwork feeling cold with images that feel as though they have been carved from ice-covered scratchboard. Finally, the full moon rises. "We walk between ridges, through dense tamarack swampand up a high hill. In the distance we see the wide, snowy flat of the beaver flood," which they arrive at just as night falls. "Our wet pants freeze solid...we walk clanking like knights in armor." They make a fire, warm their toes, and get on with some deep-woods pond hockey on perfect ice. The illustrations, with their burnished waning light, and the clipped-short narrative combine to create an atmosphere that for anyone who has experienced it will feel pitch-perfect. The game of shinny, which never grows old. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
