Kate's Really Good At Hockey

This past year, I served as a judge for the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards presented at the Denver Pop Culture Con. As part of my duties, I am charged with reading and rating a bunch of books, and I thought I'd take this month to highlight some of my favorites from this year's submissions.

Someone's excited!

As a big fan of the sport, I was excited to read Kate's Really Good at Hockey. It is about a teenager from Nashville who, like the title says, is really good at hockey. She's so good that she gets invited to a prestigious hockey camp in Denver, Colorado. There, she is not so much the big fish in the small pond but comes to see what it's like to play with others who are just as good, if not better, players.

There are obstacles Kate has to face on ice, including a couple of French-Canadian skaters who get under her skin and the coach whom she has long admired from afar but is pretty hard on her performance and demeanor. Off the ice, she also has to deal with a few issues. While at the camp she comes to stay with her grandmother, with whom she has had a pretty distant relationship. They start off icy, with Kate being tasked with specific chores she does not appreciate.

Kate does not really get why her mom made her stay there, but over time learns a couple of family secrets that put a different spin on things. Over the course of the book, Kate learns much about herself, her family, and the game of hockey. I very much enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the artwork, and I'd love to see more books like this, or even a series about these same characters.

Kate's Really Good At Hockey was written by Christina M. Frey and Howard Shapiro with art drawn by Jade Gonzalez. Frey is an editor and writer, and this site may or may not be hers, as I am not sure if there are two people with the same name who live in Maryland who work on books. Shapiro is an accountant by day and publisher by night, and he has written and published several comics, including a few other graphic novels about hockey. Gonzalez is based in Chile, and she has worked on a series The Oswald Chronicles. There is more info about this book's creation in this article.

I had a tough time finding many reviews of this book, but they were all were positive. Laura Astorian wrote, "The illustrations and inks pop and are engaging, the characters are emotive, and the hockey is full of action." Tonja Drecker added, "It's wonderful to see a middle grade book with girls and hockey, and one that hits the game with all that hardness the game holds." Kristen opined, "I like the dedication that Kate displays – even in the face of adversity – and would think she could be inspirational for young hockey players."

Kate's Really Good At Hockey was published by Animal Media Group, and they have more info about it here.

Ghost Stories

A story of two brothers, Ghost Stories is a sad, beautiful book about regret, family, and lost connections. This second book in the Essex County Trilogy focuses on Lou Lebeuf, an elderly, deaf man who lives in the farmhouse where he grew up. The story flashes from the present to the past, with glimpses into Lou's career as a street car driver as well as the time he and his younger but very much bigger brother Vince played professional hockey. While they are away in the big city, Lou falls in love with Vince's fiancee, Beth, and what transpires afterward changes their relationship forever .

This graphic novel is the work of Jeff Lemire, a multiple award winning comics creator. He won a Xeric Award for his debut book Lost Dogs. He has also won a Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award, a Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Award for Outstanding Cartoonist, and the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent. Lemire talks more about his work on the Essex County Trilogy in this interview.

Reviews of Ghost Stories have been relatively positive, with most comments focusing on the powerful story and evocative art. Benjamin Jacob Hollars commented that "Lemire’s sparse and seemingly unforgiving Canadian landscape only intensifies the cool shivers that the reader finds throughout each page." Brian Heater admitted that the book is driven by melancholy but called the storytelling "so powerful" that it is very affecting. Andrew Wheeler offered a different take on this graphic novel, concluding that "I can’t quite recommend Ghost Stories: it’s technically excellent, and has a real emotional power, but its relentless dreariness turns into something almost like a parody of soap opera by the end."

A preview is available from the book's publisher Top Shelf.