Wingman

In the game of hockey, tensions and emotions run high, incredibly high! In this very accessible novel, readers meet narrator Max and his friend and teammate Trace. Trace is having a difficult time of it: his girlfriend has broken up with him, his father is verbally abusive, and Trace could be suffering from an undiagnosed depression.

Jean Mill is a wonderful wordsmith who has crafted a very intriguing and emotional novel with Wingman. In my opinion, her previous works have led her to this novel, and she just keeps getting better at her craft. She won a 2020 Whippoorwill Award for YA literature that has a rural setting. In this book, she creates very instant, very real, and very human characters in a very real teen situation. Max needs to help his friend, but can he do so as a teen who has few resources to actively make change?

Wingman asks a very relevant question that I think many teens have asked themselves and their peers, “Where are the adults?”. The use of the hockey team as a “found family” is a very brilliant allegory in the novel, and I found that the main characters behaviours and actions were believable and on point.

If you want a book that will make you want to hug it – Wingman could be that book for you!