________________ CM . . . . Volume V Number 6 . . . . November 13, 1998

cover The Screech Owls Home Loss. (The Screech Owls Series, No. 8).

Roy MacGregor.
Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1998.
117 pp., paper, $4.99.
ISBN 0-7710-5618-4.

Subject Headings:
Hockey stories.
Drunk driving-Juvenile fiction.
Guilt-Juvenile fiction.
Friendship-Juvenile fiction.

Grades 3 - 6 / Ages 8 - 11.
Review by Betsy Fraser.

*** /4

excerpt:

They held tight, and the car swooshed them away over the frozen road.

The car turned again at Cedar Street, and both Andy and Nish let go, yelling and screaming as they used the turn to launch themselves off in a long, spinning freestyle ride farther down River Street. The others chased along, thrilled with their new game.

One bright winter morning, Travis and the rest of the Screech Owls wake up to an iced-over world. They have fun 'hitching' rides behind slow-moving cars, and they wish that their weekend would last forever. Before the weekend is over, however, they suffer their greatest loss ever when, while playing this risky game, a team member is struck and paralyzed by an unidentified drunk driver. What the team will do to pick up the pieces and move on makes for an engrossing story.

      This, the eighth book in the "Screech Owls Series," continues the story of team captain Travis and his friends and teammates. As Travis and the Screech Owls try to uncover the hit-and-run driver's identity, readers also learn more about Muck, the coach of the Screech Owls. The narrative unfolds in a clear, concise manner, with the dire consequences of the children's dangerous game spurring the plot.

      Hockey fans will not be disappointed as several Canadian legends make an appearance, but this entry in the series should reach beyond obvious aficionados of the sport. The whodunit element of the plot should also attract new readers to the series.

Recommended.

Betsy Fraser, a librarian in Calgary, has also been attending NHL games for 16 years.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - NOVEMBER 13, 1998.

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