________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 18 . . . . May 12, 2000

cover The Stars From Mars. (Slapshots, 1).

Gordon Korman.
Markham, ON: Scholastic Canada Ltd., 1999.
143 pp., pbk., $5.99.
ISBN 0-590-70619-5.

Grades 3-5 / Ages 8-10.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.

*** /4

excerpt:

The Cinderella team.

There was no better story for a sports reporter. It didn't matter if you were with Sports Illustrated or the Waterloo Elementary School Gazette. Unfortunately I wrote for the Gazette.

Gordon Korman has launched a new fiction series "Slapshots,"and this is the first book. A hockey team called the Stars has just been formed in the town of Mars. The team is coached by an old time player, Boom Boom Bolitsky. Clarence "Chipmunk" Adelman is a reporter, and he is following the team and their horrendous season. They manage to get one good player, Trent, on their team because he didn't get his registration in on time for a better team. This team works really hard and is determined to win, and so they begin practicing on their own. Chipmunk's mother asks all the stores to stop selling him "jawbreakers," but he sends for a package in the mail, under the fake name Bobby Orr. But then he can't pick it up at the post office! At their big game, the package of Ultra Quarks hidden in the goalie's equipment breaks and spills all over the ice, and Trent scores the winning goal.

Korman, author of over 20 popular books, has written an appealing and easy to read story. Children who like the "Screech Owls" series will enjoy the Stars' trials and tribulations as they turn their team around. Also included in the cast of characters is a girl hockey player, Alexia, who appears on the attractive cover with Trent.

Recommended.

Lorraine Douglas is the Administrative Coordinator of Youth Services, Winnipeg Public Library.

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 - May 12, 2000.

AUTHORS | TITLES | MEDIA REVIEWS | PROFILES | BACK ISSUES | SEARCH | CMARCHIVE | HOME