The Puck Drops Here (Hockey Super Six #1)

Written and illustrated by Kevin Sylvester

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-6348-4

176 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2020

I don't know if I can safely write this review. I had to take a solemn pledge to never repeat anything I saw to ANYONE under penalty of...I don't know since it's apparently TOO TOP SECRET. But, I'm going to take a chance and brave it because you really need to hear about this book. It's too good to miss. (Though I did read that "There was once a kid in grade four in Canmore who took just a glimpse of, a mere peek at, page one of this book and repeated a single word that appeared on that page. Notice we said, "Was."" Yikes.)

From The Puck Drops Here (Hockey Super Six #1) by Kevin Sylvester

Twins Jenny and Benny, and friends Mo, Starlight, DJ and Karl are all eager to try out for the GOOBERS (Greater Ottawa-Outaouais Brainy Educational Regional School) hockey but Coach Clapper feels they all need to work on something, whether it is teamwork (Benny and Jenny), speed (DJ), physique (Mo), attention (Starlight) or being Karl (yes, he's just too Karl). So, stealing the key to an underground, top-secret hockey rink from his prime minister mom, PM Pauline Patinage, Karl sneaks his friends in for some special practice time. However, unbeknownst to them, government scientist Clarence Crosscheck, who'd been pretending to work on an artificial rink that could be used year-round, has been plotting to take over the world with a freeze ray using special comet crystals called Frozeum 7.

From The Puck Drops Here (Hockey Super Six #1) by Kevin Sylvester

When the kids arrive, Clarence accidentally blasts them, imbuing them with energy that translates into new powers (well, all except Karl, apparently) that would make Coach Clapper thrilled. But Clarence Crosscheck, realizing his machine has failed and learning PM PP is approaching, takes off, but not before releasing his experimentally-developed and hungry Super-Giant Ice Squids from their cage.

From The Puck Drops Here (Hockey Super Six #1) by Kevin Sylvester

In an epic hockey challenge, the Hockey Super Six take on the Ice Squids and the only things they have in common are a passion for hockey and a hunger to win. (Actually the squids just want to win the challenge so they can eat the kids because they really are hungry.)

I need to thank Kevin Sylvester for The Puck Starts Here and for starting this new series. We so need to find laughter in our lives, and The Puck Drops Here had me snickering, giggling, and smiling the whole way through. From his distinctive sketches (very familiar to readers of his award-winning series Neil Flambé) and humour (like the tongue-in-cheek comments between the kids, and story elements like Clarence's one-eyed human-sized hockey puck robot named Ron), all embedded in a hockey story line, Kevin Sylvester ticks all the boxes for a belly-laughs middle grade read about a much-loved sport. It's a little crazy (like the goalies who "are universally understood to be weird"; pg. 24) and a whole lot of funny ("This isn't hockey! This is monkey in the middle!"; pg. 117) and allows hockey viewing via appropriate social distancing.

Young readers will undoubtedly love The Puck Drops Here and this series. (The second book in the Hockey Super Six series, On Thin Ice, dropped last month.) For Christmas, for hockey lovers, for middle graders looking for a laugh, this will be a barnburner for Kevin Sylvester. He definitely scores!