The Rink

Who will you meet over at the rink!Over at the rinkWhere the anthem's sung,The whole town gatheredFor some hockey fun.Set to the catchy rhythm of the traditional counting song "Over in the Meadow", Over at the Rink describes a delightful jaunt to the local ice rink. The story of the game is counted up to ten, when the players finally hoot, "Let's play again!"Scot Ritchie's expressive, humourous illustrations capture the excitement of the day, perfectly complementing the rhyming story. This is one title that will have young readers yelling, "Let's read it again!"

Deeply personal yet incredibly witty, this memoir about Grant Lawrence’s relationship with hockey passes back and forth between tales of his life and a fascinating history of hockey, complete with lively anecdotes about the many colorful characters of the NHL. Through Lawrence’s early life, he struggled with the idea of hockey. An undersized child who wore thick glasses and knee-braces, he understood what it was like to be in the attack zone of the hockey-obsessed jocks at his school. For Lawrence, bullying and the violent game of hockey seemed to go hand-in-hand. Yet he was also enamored with the sport and eventually learned that playing goalie on a hockey team isn’t all that different from playing in a band, and that artistically-minded wimps can find just as much joy in the game as their meathead counterparts.

If you could travel through time, who would you want to meet? Lucas Finnigan eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. With his friends Edge, Swift and Crunch, Lucas plays on his hometown’s rink, dreaming of the day when he knows he’ll make the NHL. But lately money has been tight at home, and, after a major growth spurt, Lucas is forced to wear hand-me-down gear that doesn’t quite fit right. Now he’s not sure he’ll ever make it to the Hall of Fame like his hockey heroes. And that’s not the only problem. With the community arena’s chiller on the fritz, and replacement parts too tough to come by, it looks like Lucas and his friends may be doomed to a season on a plastic rink—or worse, no hockey at all! But with a magical discovery, and some help from one of hockey's greatest players (who was a kid once, too!), their final skate might turn into their first great adventure . . .

Tom gets his first lesson in responsibility when he and his team agree to tidy up an outdoor rink. It's a snowy February in Calgary, and the bumpy outdoor rink at Crescent Park needs a lot of work. Tom and his friends pledge to perfect it in time for the annual Family Day hockey game, and soon they get to work. But maintaining and improving a rink proves to be a lot of work for the boys: They are faced with repeated snowfalls, ice damage, illness, and poor performance in their hockey games, due to their weariness from all of the extra work! One day a tempting invitation creates a conflict with their work commitment, and now it's up to them -- to choose between honouring their pledge or watching their favourite NHL team in action. This charming chapter book is the fourth installment in Irene Punt's series featuring Tom and the Glenlake Hawks. With the fun backdrop of seasonal school activities and hockey games, she touches on the important themes of teamwork, conflict resolution, and acceptance of responsibility -- all with the cheerful, positive outlook of an average, everyday kid.

Nominated in the nonfiction category for the 2004/2005 Red Cedar Book Awards (British Columbia's Young Reader's Choice book award) Brian McFarlane, one of hockey’s best known and most respected historians, has gathered stories from the very first organized game of hockey, to the Olympic gold-medal face-off between Canada and the US at the 2002 Olympics. Whether through a story of courage – such as Mario Lemieux’s comeback from cancer – or through a story of the ridiculous – such as the notorious flying hot dog – Real Stories from the Rink presents tales about men’s and women’s hockey that cover players of every position, as well as coaches. It also includes the kind of statistics and records that are dear to every hockey fan.

Wherever there is hockey there will always be a Rink Burger. Hockey isn't just about games in big stadiums. It can be played on ponds, streets and in small-town rinks. It creates bonds between fathers and sons. It forges friendships that last a lifetime. When the family home in Big River, Saskatchewan, is sold, Todd Devonshire decides to visit his roots one last time and retrieve all the hockey mementos he'd promised to pick up someday. Packing up pictures, old hockey jerseys and his vast collection of O-Pee-Chee hockey cards, Todd reminisces about his youth as a player and avid fan in a comical and poignant coming of age.

A phenomenally unusual three-way murder mystery. With a murder at its heart, Roberto Bolano’s The Skating Rink is, among other things, a crime novel. Murder seems to have exerted a fascination for the endlessly talented Bolano, who in his last interview, according to The Observer, “declared, in all apparent seriousness, that what he would most like to have been was a homicide detective.” Set in the seaside town of Z, north of Barcelona, The Skating Rink is told in short, suspenseful chapters by three male narrators, and revolves around a beautiful figure skating champion, Nuria Martí. A ruined mansion, knife-wielding women, political corruption, sex, and jealousy all appear in this atmospheric chronicle of a single summer season in a seaside town, with its vacationers, businessmen, immigrants, bureaucrats, social workers, and drifters.