Hockey prospect’s challenges captivating

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This article was published 19/11/2022 (1144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you are looking for a young adult book that will appeal to sports lovers, choose My Left Skate: The Extraordinary Story of Eliezer Sherbatov by Toronto author Anna Rosner (Yellow Dog, 112 pages, $16, paperback).

Eliezer Sherbatov came from a hockey family. Living in Quebec as immigrants from Russia and Israel, his family were keen fans of Guy Lafleur. Eliezer is chosen to play with the under-18 World Hockey Championship team at the age of 13, despite being barely 5 feet tall. With a seemingly brilliant future ahead of him, he suffers a devastating injury that leaves him without any feeling in his left leg.

Eliezer’s story is one of incredible courage, dedication and endurance. With the help of his mother’s professional coaching skills he manages to train his upper leg muscles to take over from the damaged nerves and goes on to play not only in Quebec, but also in Europe.

In a final exciting chapter to this incredible story, Eliezer is caught in Ukraine when the Russians target the country and has to dodge missiles and invading troops to seek safety. Inspiring reading for 12 and up.

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For a feel-good mid-level book celebrating the friendship between an autistic young boy and his supportive older brother try Butt Sandwich & Tree by Newfoundland author Wesley King (Paula Wiseman, 272 pages, $22, hardcover).

With the unusual first names of Green and Cedar, the brothers enjoy shooting hoops in the driveway and hanging out together until Cedar (the elder) encourages Green to try out for the basketball team. When a valuable necklace goes missing from the coach’s office everyone blames Green, “the freak,” until he uses his skills to discover the culprit.

King manages to work in plenty of information about the autism spectrum and depicts Green as an attractive, talented personality. For ages 8-12.

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Sometimes we aren’t happy about who we are, but finding a new friend can change our point of view. That’s the message in a new picture book, Becoming Blue, by New York author Ellen Tarlow (Beach Lane Books, 48 pages, $26, hardcover).

Tarlow uses two primary colours, blue and red, to illustrate her message. Blue has always wanted to be red: to be exciting, fascinating, to go to fires — to be fire! It takes some serious thinking for blue to realize her advantages: she’s like the sky, the sea, birds and flowers. And what happens if they combine their efforts?

For earliest book lovers, with plenty of large and striking illustrations by Montreal artist Julien Chung. Ages 0-8.

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We’ve all enjoyed Sherlock Holmes’ escapades, but who recalls the author behind them? Former Winnipegger Linda Bailey (now in Vancouver) corrects that omission in Arthur who Wrote Sherlock (Tundra, 56 pages, $25, hardcover).

With lavish and humorous illustrations by Swiss artist Isabelle Follath, Bailey traces the career of Arthur Conan Doyle from an indifferent student through wide-ranging travels and a few years as a doctor to overwhelming writing success. Bailey credits one of Doyle’s medical professors, Dr. Joseph Bell, who taught him the importance of acute observation, as the inspiration for Sherlock. Even Queen Elizabeth became a fan and added the honorific “Sir” before his name. New versions and copiers of Sherlock keep being released to this day.

Doyle’s success didn’t just bring good fortune. He was pursued and harassed by an adoring public. He even tried to kill off his hero, but found his reading public wouldn’t allow it.

Mid-level readers (age 8-12) will be fascinated by this account of one of our greatest storytellers, who was originally rejected by scores of publishers.

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Helen Norrie is a former teacher-librarian who uses her detective skills to find books for young readers.