Northern Star

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Readers first encountered Peter Kuisak as a secondary character in
Roughing (2004) and then as the main character in Against the Boards
(2005), which found the Inuit Grade 8 student adjusting to his move from
his home community of Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories to
Edmonton, where he was to live with the Pattersons, his host family,
while playing for the Sherwood Park Arrows bantam hockey team.

As Northern Star opens, Peter, who plays first-line centre, not only
leads his team to victory in a tournament’s gold medal game, but also
emerges as the game’s MVP and the tournament’s top point-getter.
Peter’s on-ice achievements attract the attention of an Edmonton
weekly and then a daily newspaper, which prints a lengthy profile of him
in its sports section. All the publicity leads to both off- and on-ice
problems for the normally modest Peter. Suddenly, he finds himself being
included by the school’s in-crowd and being fawned over by girls.
Among the Arrows players, some openly resent Peter being so publicly
singled out, with one teammate, goaded on by his father, even attempting
to injure “NWT boy.” When a players’ agent approaches Peter
seeking to represent him following Peter’s domination of a previously
undefeated team, Peter becomes emotionally overwhelmed. But he receives
helpful advice from the Pattersons’ older son, Trevor, a star player
in junior hockey, on how to handle the pressure of being in the media
spotlight.

Nicholson’s hockey action rings true, and the book’s somewhat open
ending leaves room for a sequel. Recommended.