The Kid Line

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

The Kid Line is a book for every young boy who loves hockey and admires
its players. It is also a poignant book with a strong subtext on aging,
change, and loss.

A young boy grows up listening to his father’s stories about the
famous Conacher brothers who play on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Kid
Line. The father had gone to school with the Conacher brothers and, as a
young man, had helped to lay bricks for the Maple Leaf Gardens. As an
adult, he works as a ticket scalper. Leftover tickets occasionally allow
the father to take his son to a game. The boy dreams that he, his
father, and Charlie Conacher play in a Leafs’ game at the Gardens and
that the boy scores a goal. As the young protagonist gradually becomes
an adult, his father becomes a resident of a home for elderly seniors.

The Kid Line is a strong, moving tale of dreams, ambitions, and
aging—potent stuff that Teddy Jam handles well. Ange Zhang’s dark,
powerful illustrations are perfect for the story. Zhang is an
internationally known theatre designer and Jam is the author of many
acclaimed children’s books. They have worked together on two previous
books and make a good team. Highly recommended.