I Am a Hockey Player

On the front of this “shaped” board book, readers see a young hockey player, #12, carrying the puck down the ice and toward the viewers. And, if readers flip the book over, the back cover presents the same player now skating away from them.

Of the book’s eight pages, six are taken up by spreads, with the opening one showing the team members donning their hockey equipment in their dressing room just prior to a practice session. The board book then moves to a pair of facing pages showing the team practicing passing and shooting drills. The second spread finds the “red” team playing a game against the “green” team while the final spread sees #12 scoring a goal.

The linear plot is thin, the word choice somewhat bland, and the character development virtually nonexistent. The illustrations reveal that, although the team’s composition is multiracial, it appears to be an all-boys team. The illustrations do include a lot of detail, and the adults sharing this board book with toddlers could create their own “I-Spy” games around these details. For example, the closing spread’s illustration could lead to, “I spy with my little eye – a small Canadian flag.”

I Am a Hockey Player is more likely a home rather than a library purchase.