Reviews
The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink (Ice Chips #1) by Roy MacGregor, Kerry MacGregor, Kim Smith
peyton_'s review against another edition
5.0
The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink by Roy and Kerry MacGregor is a cute story about a group of friends who play on The Ice Chips hockey team together. Before a new season of hockey is about to begin the Ice Chips learn that their rink is going to be closed because the cooling machines are broken. This means that they will have to play at the plastic fake-ice rink with the Riverton Stars, a team full of bullies.
Rather than being a story about rival teams, The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink explores the topics of friendship, doing the right thing, and the importance of doing what you love. Throughout the adventure with the time-travel mini-ice resurfacing machine, also known as Scratch, friends Lucas, Edge, Swift, and Crunch learn valuable lessons. They are good friends who treat others with respect and do not let bullies ruin their experiences. The MacGregors did an amazing job of writing a hockey story that can be enjoyed by everyone.
Not only does The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink embrace Canada’s national winter sport, but it also showcases how wonderful Canada is. From the game of shinny on a frozen slough in southern Saskatchewan, to the image of a Bennet Buggy, there are descriptions of Canada that create a proud feeling throughout the story.
The characters in The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink are great kids. They display a diverse group of people: male, female, Sikh, bully, poor, and intellectually gifted. The wide-range of characters is welcome and something that is more prominent in modern literature. It allows for everyone to find someone they can relate to, as well as providing a stronger story and different perspectives.
Rather than being a story about rival teams, The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink explores the topics of friendship, doing the right thing, and the importance of doing what you love. Throughout the adventure with the time-travel mini-ice resurfacing machine, also known as Scratch, friends Lucas, Edge, Swift, and Crunch learn valuable lessons. They are good friends who treat others with respect and do not let bullies ruin their experiences. The MacGregors did an amazing job of writing a hockey story that can be enjoyed by everyone.
Not only does The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink embrace Canada’s national winter sport, but it also showcases how wonderful Canada is. From the game of shinny on a frozen slough in southern Saskatchewan, to the image of a Bennet Buggy, there are descriptions of Canada that create a proud feeling throughout the story.
The characters in The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink are great kids. They display a diverse group of people: male, female, Sikh, bully, poor, and intellectually gifted. The wide-range of characters is welcome and something that is more prominent in modern literature. It allows for everyone to find someone they can relate to, as well as providing a stronger story and different perspectives.
bibliophilicjester's review against another edition
Cute, but really young. I probably shouldn't have read this right after I finished this is how you lose the time war. *shrug*
Everything is super obvious, black and white, and laid out for kids to pick up on things, I suppose. Maybe I'm just a bitter old 30-something. But it was a fun time, and the kids learned some important lessons. Definitely not about the value of money if Lucas tapes and retapes his stick every time he gets on the ice, but I digress.
A thing that really bothered me was how hard the hits from bullies were, and how Gordon cracked his head on the ice and we just moved on. Concussions are a serious thing in lots of sports, but I think hockey and football get the most attention (high contact sports). I wish we'd taken a minute to get checked out or at least for one of the present-day kids to say something about player safety. It WAS good to see Lucas turn to hit the boards with his shoulder instead of his head - any good youth hockey program should teach kids how to go into the boards when they fall and how to take a hit. I remember some teams had stop sign patches on their jerseys just below the base of the skull when there was a big push for heads up hockey. Again, maybe I'm being a grumpy adult, but I've had a few concussions, and I think kids need to be aware of the risks and such. Also, those damn kids need to get off my lawn *brandishes hockey stick*
The authors are Canadian, so it's possible some terms are different than in the US...but as a hockey human, I got really distracted by some of the words and expressions used. I won't get into it (yes, I kept a running list, lol), but the idea of an impressive player doing a snowplow stop going into a faceoff is ridiculous. What a bender
Everything is super obvious, black and white, and laid out for kids to pick up on things, I suppose. Maybe I'm just a bitter old 30-something. But it was a fun time, and the kids learned some important lessons. Definitely not about the value of money if Lucas tapes and retapes his stick every time he gets on the ice, but I digress.
A thing that really bothered me was how hard the hits from bullies were, and how Gordon cracked his head on the ice and we just moved on. Concussions are a serious thing in lots of sports, but I think hockey and football get the most attention (high contact sports). I wish we'd taken a minute to get checked out or at least for one of the present-day kids to say something about player safety. It WAS good to see Lucas turn to hit the boards with his shoulder instead of his head - any good youth hockey program should teach kids how to go into the boards when they fall and how to take a hit. I remember some teams had stop sign patches on their jerseys just below the base of the skull when there was a big push for heads up hockey. Again, maybe I'm being a grumpy adult, but I've had a few concussions, and I think kids need to be aware of the risks and such. Also, those damn kids need to get off my lawn *brandishes hockey stick*
The authors are Canadian, so it's possible some terms are different than in the US...but as a hockey human, I got really distracted by some of the words and expressions used. I won't get into it (yes, I kept a running list, lol), but the idea of an impressive player doing a snowplow stop going into a faceoff is ridiculous. What a bender
ckreuter's review against another edition
4.0
This was a lot of fun. Great characters & everything ties together really well at the end. The illustrations are wonderful & the book packaging is top notch. This will make a great gift to a young reader that loves hockey!
My only gripe was the pacing of the multi-chapter flashback at the beginning of the book. I can see that confusing kids a little. Regardless, I definitely recommend this series!
My only gripe was the pacing of the multi-chapter flashback at the beginning of the book. I can see that confusing kids a little. Regardless, I definitely recommend this series!
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