CM Magazine: Splinters. (This Girl Needs a Miracle....).

________________ CM . . . . Volume XVI Number 40. . . .June 18, 2010

cover
Splinters. (This Girl Needs a Miracle....).

Kevin Sylvester.
Toronto, ON: Tundra Books, 2010.
40 pp., hardcover, $19.99.
ISBN 978-0-88776-944-3.
Preschool-grade 3 / Ages 4-8.
Review by Suzanne Pierson.
**** /4

excerpt:

Coach Prince decided to put her new players through a real test.

A game.

She picked the twenty best players and dropped the puck.

Cindy was chosen for team one. The Blister Sisters, for once, were on the other team.

Cindy was terrific, swooping when the other players swiped, weaving in and out, scoring, setting up goals.

The Blisters’ team was also very good, and with time winding down, the game was tied 7-7.

Whether you are adding to your Cinderella story collection or looking for a story with a strong female role-model, snap this one up. Author, illustrator, and sports broadcaster Kevin Sylvester has created a winner.

Cindy Winters loves to play hockey, but her family can’t afford the fees for her to play in a real league. The moral of the story is stated in the only sentence in the entire book set in italics. Hockey leagues cost a lot. Cindy’s parents worked hard just to pay the rent and buy food. Cindy was not going to ask them for help – she was determined to get the money herself. It’s just like being on the ice, she thought. Sometimes you have to go around all five players to score.

internal art In true Cinderella style, Cindy perseveres, overcomes all obstacles (with some help from her fairy goaltender), and wins a place on Coach Prince’ team. And of course, like all good fairy tales, this story has the traditional fairy tale ending (with a slight twist). Cindy and Coach Prince knew they were both going to love hockey happily ever after.

Sylvester’s playful watercolour and pencil illustrations are full of action and emotion, adding just the right amount of detail to support the story line for young readers. Cindy is at different times determined, dejected, and elated, with each change in her hockey hopes. The Blister Sisters (aka the ugly stepsisters) are happily malicious, and Coach Blister is truly menacing. All of the archetypes are cleverly illustrated in this version of Cinderella on ice. Splinters may become a Canadian classic.

Highly Recommended.

Suzanne Pierson is a retired teacher-librarian, currently instructing librarianship courses at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364 Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

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