Mitch Marner

Mitch Marner is a short biography of the Toronto Maples Leafs’ star winger. It is part of Scholastic’s “Amazing Hockey Stories” series. Presumably, like other entries in the series, it is a combination of prose sections that cover different periods of Marner’s (still very young) life interspersed with panels of graphic vignettes that dramatize key moments from those periods.

This book is not a biography intended to reveal new details or “dirt” about Marner. It covers his life from birth until the end of 2019 (so no mention of the pandemic and its impact specifically on hockey). It is written in a style to inspire and encourage young readers to achieve their dreams in hockey or otherwise. It doesn’t shy away from some of the challenges Marner faced, like his size, but it couches those challenges in a language that is hopeful, positive, and practical, if not sometimes a bit too breathless and impressed.

There are brief discussions of other parts of Marner’s life, including his charitable work, but no mention of school or other interests outside of hockey. So, the author wisely focuses much of Marner’s story in relation to his parents, his pets, and his teammates as a way to make the superstar both relatable to readers and to provide counterpoint to what are effectively point-by-point lists of achievements on his way to making the National Hockey League.

Young readers who are also aspiring hockey players may find the description of the process and steps Marner progresses through to achieve success instructive (if not daunting). The graphic vignettes are well-drawn, illustrating some of Marner’s on-ice achievements and more effectively capturing the energy, action, and drama of hockey highlights than any prose could. They also potentially make the book more appealing to reluctant readers who may prefer graphic novels.

Mitch Marner is definitely a book mainly for young readers interested in hockey and, in particular, the Toronto Maple Leafs.