H is for Hockey: A Canadian Sports Book

The short title of this board book, H is for Hockey, is somewhat misleading in that potential purchasers may think it’s an alphabet book with each of the remaining 25 letters then going to be represented by a sport being played in Canada, such as “A is for Archery” or “S is for Snowshoeing”. Such is not the case, however. Instead, each of nine labelled spreads showcases a number of related sports that could be played in a particular location or situation, such as “At the Ballpark”, “On the Mat” and “At the Rink”, as well as illustrations of some of the equipment that would be needed by individuals engaging in these athletic activities. For example, the spread titled “On the Field” includes field hockey, lacrosse, football, flag football and soccer. The illustrated equipment needed for lacrosse included: ball, lacrosse stick, elbow and shin pads, cleats, goalie helmet and, of course, a lacrosse player. Like the other spreads, this one actively includes the viewer/reader by posing a question or task related to the illustrations. For this spread, it’s a question, that being: “Which sport uses an oval-shaped ball?”

Scott Barker and Daniel Crisp’s fun cartoon style illustrations of the various child athletes, in addition to being gender and racially inclusive, also portray parasports like sledge hockey, wheelchair basketball, sit-ski, blade running and wheelchair racing. The pages are very busy with illustrated captioned items, and it’s not always clear to which sport an item belongs. Because the goggles are placed below the lacrosse stick but immediately adjacent to the field hockey stick, to which sport do they belong? Both? And some items, like elbow and shin pads, just don’t work as illustrations.

In addition to being a vocabulary builder, H is for Hockey does provide an extremely brief introduction to many athletic activities in which the readers/listeners may find themselves engaged as participants or spectators when they are older.