TBC: Where's My Hockey Sweater?

Teebz's Book Club is working to expand its children section in the effort that kids pick up a love for hockey through reading, and vice versa. There are a number of excellent books that advanced and adult readers should pick up for themselves or other hockey fans, so I want to encourage kids to start reading early. Today, TBC is proud to present Where's My Hockey Sweater?, written by Gilles Tibo, illustrated by Bruno St-Aubin, and published by Scholastic. This book is geared towards readers who are aged three to eight, and it has some very good illustrations throughout the book to make the story more visual. This book is a great way to start your little hockey fan or player down the road of reading.

Gilles Tibo has written and illustrated over one hundred books. He is an award-winning writer, earning such prestigious accolades as two Governor General's Awards and two Mr. Christie's Book Awards. Born in Nicolet, Quebec in 1951, Mr. Tibo got his start working as a freelance illustrator designing flyers and album covers. He also drew a large portion of the French-Canadian comic strips that appeared in newspapers. Thanks to his work as an artist, Mr. Tibo translated that success into illustrating books. More recently, he has begun to write books as well, and his success has resulted in worldwide accolades for his work. Mr. Tibo resides in Montreal, Quebec with his family.

Bruno St-Aubin began his career at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. After receiving a scholarship, he began work at Metamorphosis magazine. After returning to Canada, he enrolled at Concordia University in their animation courses. Since 1988, Mr. St-Aubin has illustrated over 50 children's books. Mr. St-Aubin resides in Quebec with his family.

The story of Where's My Hockey Sweater? is about a young boy named Nicholas. Nicholas is tucked into bed snugly, dreaming of his first hockey practice on Saturday morning. The problem? It already was Saturday morning, and an hour before practice starts!

Nicholas' room is quite the mess, and he needs to find all his hockey equipment, including his championship sweater! With the help of his mom and dad, Nicholas begins locating the various pieces of his equipment: shoulder pads, skates, helmet, and stick. But where is his hockey sweater? Nicholas must find his hockey sweater!

The 32-page book is an excellent story about keeping one's room clean so that things can be found when needed - a message that every child can relate to as parents routinely remind children to keep their rooms tidy. The story ends with some humour that kids will appreciate, and the illustrations are large and vivid in their colour. The details in the pictures are quite good as kids will notice all sorts of things spread out over Nicholas' room.

This book is definitely not for readers any older than eight due to its easy-to-read writing, but it will be a good start for any child who is breaking into reading. Where's My Hockey Sweater? takes a lesson that parents constantly remind their children of, and makes it fun. Because of this, Where's My Hockey Sweater? certainly deserves the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval, and comes highly recommended for all youngsters.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!