Life's Lessons on Ice 1: They Shoot! They Score!

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“I laced up my skates, I spun onto the ice, / The game of the season,
a roll of the dice, / I played out my best, I zipped up the rink, / Who
cared ’bout the rest / I was beginning to think— / That I was the
best! The best skater in town! / I had won so much, no one could take me
down.”

Thus begins this tale of a young boy, a star hockey player who is so
good at the game that he thinks he is a one-man team. Then one day he
encounters an opponent who is a better player than he is and who also
thinks he is a one-man team. Learning from his opponent’s and his own
mistaken arrogance, the young star starts to pass the puck to his
teammates and they win the game.

Although there is much to admire in this book, MacDonald’s verse
sometimes comes across as amateurish. On the other hand, Luca’s
illustrations are lively and fun. Unfortunately, his drawings have not
been properly reproduced by the publisher—unless Luca created his
illustrations to look as if they were meant to be blurred. MacDonald and
Luca clearly have talent, but they need the guidance of a publisher with
higher production standards. Not a first-choice purchase.