Hockey Superstars, 2007–2008.

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.

Romanuk’s 20th edition of his annual Hockey Superstars will again attract young hockey fans with its chatty prose and glossy full- colour mini-posters of the league’s “superstars.” Alphabetically arranged from Daniel Brière to Joe Thornton, with phenom “Sid the Kid” Crosby appearing on the cover, Romanuk’s 18 selections include six centres, seven wingers, three goalies, and two defenceman. This year’s bonus 18th player is the result of Romanuk’s treating the Vancouver Canuck’s Sedin twins as a single entry. Players from half of the 30 NHL teams are represented, with the Eastern Conference accounting for more than half of the book’s entries. Only two teams, the Canucks with three and the Anaheim Ducks with two, had more than one player entry. Among Canadian teams, just the Edmonton Oilers were shut out of player selection.

Edition 20 maintains the familiar format that has two-column text facing each player’s full-colour action photo. To the text about each player, Romanuk adds “Did You Know?” and “Hockey Memory” boxes. Beneath each player’s picture, another box provides the player’s 2006–2007 stats, draft details, date and place of birth, position, shooting or catching handedness, plus height and weight in imperial and metric units. Like earlier editions, the poster pages are sandwiched between two matte paper sections which invite readers’ participation through recording such things as their favourite team’s or players’ seasonal statistics. As well, this section provides captioned illustrations of Referee Signals, End-of-Season Stats, and NHL individual awards. Recommended.