9-year-old Gabe (Gabriella) Murray lives and breathes hockey. She's the youngest player on her new team, she has a nifty move that her teammates call "the Gabe," and she shares a lucky number with her hero, Hayley Wickenheiser: number 22. But when her coach hands out the team jerseys, Gabe is stuck with number 9. Crushed, Gabe wants to give up hockey altogether. How can she play without her lucky number?
Gabe's grandmother soon sets her straight, though -- from her own connection to the number 9 in her hockey-playing days to all the greats she cheered for who wore it, she soon convinces Gabe that this new number might not be so bad after all.
A lovely intergenerational tale and a history of the storied number 9 in hockey, The Highest Number in the World is a must-have for any hockey fan.
"Gabe’s no-nonsense grandma shows her an old black-and-white hockey-team photo of 11 boys and herself, disguised as a boy because girls were not allowed to play....MacGregor’s writing packs an emotional punch without relying on sentimentality (when the coach hands her the disappointing jersey, Gabe’s heart felt as if a skate had just run across it). Expressive pencil drawings brightened with color washes perfectly capture the characters’ feelings. From the moment Grandma begins to share her past and her passion for hockey, the story’s context becomes broader, more complex, and more meaningful." -- Carolyn Phelan, Booklist
Recommended Age | 6 - 8 |
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Author | Roy MacGregor |
Illustrator | Genevieve Despres |
ISBN | 1770495754 |
Publication Date | Feb 11, 2014 |
Publisher | Tundra Books |
Language | English |