Hockey Book Reviews.com

A decade ago The Hockey News celebrated their 50th anniversary by forming a panel to name the top 50 players in National Hockey League history . The result: a whole lot of conversational debate, a classic special issue magazine-turned-expanded book, and, I'm guessing here a bit, magazine/book sales out the ying-yang. Fast forward to 2007 and THN needs to celebrate their 60th anniversary. How do they do it? By forming another panel to name the top 60 players, of course. But in order to make it different they only look at players after the NHL's first expansion in 1967, skip the special issue magazine and immediately release the book Hockey News Top 60 Since 1967: the Best Players of the Post-Expansion Era . Last step: cue the debate. Now of course you're immediately saying, "Okay Joe, tell us who the 60 are." Well, I won't quite do that. You gotta go down to the bookstore and check it out yourself. But I will tell you what I learned firsthand this past summer w...

Yesterday I talked about Raincoast Books lucrative children's hockey book franchise. The beautifully illustrated and well written stories are amazing power sellers. Previous titles include Gretzky's Game , The Greatest Goal , The Goalie Mask , Number Four, Bobby Orr! , A Hero Named Howe and the incredibly successful franchise starter My Leafs Sweater . All of these books were written by Mike Leonetti. In 2007 Raincoast returns with two titles. They branched out and let Chris Mizzoni have a try with what is sure to be a hit in Clancy With The Puck . As I reviewed yesterday , this is a special title. And of course Raincoast returns with another Leonetti effort in Maple Leafs A-Z . And why not? The Leonetti/Raincoast formula has worked magnificently in the past, and the marketplace is all theirs. Except this book is a miss. Now I don't doubt for a second that this book will sell more copies than most books this season. Greg Banning returns and his artwork is amazing. The fran...

Raincoast Books 2007's entry in their annual children's hockey book marketplace is sure to be a huge, huge hit, as always. The amazingly beautiful new title Clancy with the Puck continues the publisher's popular children's book franchise, following previous releases such as Gretzky's Game , The Greatest Goal , The Goalie Mask , Number Four, Bobby Orr! , A Hero Named Howe and the incredibly successful franchise starter My Leafs Sweater . It's actually quite ingenious. These books follow the same formula: A good story, beautiful artwork and the high quality production that is Raincoast's trademark. They tend to be of historical reflection, which interests parents and allows for a great family moment to pass on the joy of both reading and hockey. The books are always popular under Christmas trees for years to come. And the publisher still has every public and elementary school library in Canada to sell at least one copy to. Raincoast's incredibly successf...

I got an interesting email from Timothy Gassen this weekend. Gassen is a hockey fan with a unique interest. He's combined his memories to write "a personal history of the Indianapolis Racers" hockey team. The book is entitled Red, White and Blues. Gassen is in the process of sending me a review copy of the book, so I don't really know much more than what is said at his website, whaRACERS.com . But I thought there would be interest in this title. After all, the games two highest scorers started their careers in Indianapolis - Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Their time in Indy is greatly overlooked, almost forgotten about really.The book promises "for the first time, the real story behind Wayne Gretzky and his mysterious million dollar signing with the Racers as a 17-year-old rookie in 1978, and the details of his fateful journey to the Edmonton Oilers — and the Hall of Fame." The book also promises a firsthand and "complete Racers franchise history, t...

I wasn't just pleasantly surprised by the book Oldtimers: On the Road with the Legendary Heroes of Hockey . I was blown away by it. I had always dismissed "Oldtimers" whenever I saw it on the bookshelves. The book covers the Oldtimers Hockey Challenge tour , as they travel across Canada and Alaska. I have seen the tour firsthand, both on the ice and off it, and I wasn't sure I wanted any deeper knowledge. I've witnessed the hard drinking, prank playing ways of their life, and quite frankly found it sad. Here were players I grew up idolizing. I'd go to the game to honor them for who they were, to remember them, to remember my youth. But then I'd see who they have become: middle-aged hangers-on who are desperately trying recapture their youth. Even sadder was the plight of some of the older legends. These players tour to raise monies for local charities, but also as a form of income. Its kind of sad that legends like Johnny Bower travel to the tiniest of tow...

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The hockey book writing machine better known as Andrew Podnieks churned out another gem with the 2006 Greystone Books release A Canadian Saturday Night: Hockey and the Culture of a Country . The author of nearly 50 titles takes a look at how tightly connected hockey is with all aspects of Canadian culture. He examines how hockey, which began as "a geographic and meteorological fact," developed into such a significant part of our everyday lives. Even those Canadians who do not enjoy the sport can not escape it. Hockey is the quintessential Canadian experience. Podnieks does not approach this book with any grand thesis or encyclopedic chronicling. Instead he provides an admittedly subjective history of random things that have transcended the game itself to shape us culturally, socially, politically and mythologically. Podnieks goes on to dedicate a full page of text and unique and beautiful color photos of great Canadian experiences such as yelling "car," humming t...

On a September camping trip I took Roy MacSkimming's unauthorized bio-epic Gordie: A Hockey Legend with me to Tyhee Lake near chilly Smithers, British Columbia. Though the sun went down early and kamikaze moths attacked my nearby Coleman lantern, I quickly was lost in the world of hockey's greatest legend as painted by the literary genius of Mr. MacSkimming. It wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized my campfire was little more than glowing embers. In 2006 the class of all hockey books was Stephen Brunt's Searching For Bobby Orr, which was also an unauthorized homage with no input from the story's main character. MacSkimming's "Gordie," first published in 1994 and re-released in 2003 by Greystone Books, is every bit "Searching's" equal. While your personal interest in the two characters will ultimately sway your own ranking, I will give "Gordie" the edge based on MacSkimming's writing. While Brunt is in e...

This week Raincoast Books sent me my first books to be reviewed of the season. Raincoast and Random House have both asked me to review their lines this season, and I hope to finalize other deals with publishers soon. Raincoast sent me Chris Mizzoni's Clancy with the Puck , a poetic children's tale along the lines of the Ernest Thayer baseball/literary classic Casey at the Bat . I will have a full review of Mizzoni's book later. For now all I'll say is Raincoast never disappoints in the amount of effort and capital they invest in their products. This is an absolutely beautiful book. Raincoast also sent Mike Leonetti's Maple Leafs A-Z . Again, this book will get a full review later, but my first impressions weren't quite as favorable as Mizzoni's work. The product quality is there as always with Raincoast, but some of the letter choices were far-reaching (E is for Ted Kennedy?). This book is curiously aimed at kids, none of whom have any idea who Johnny Bowe...

Back in August I created my most popular and most controversial posts when I was asked to name the greatest 36 players of all time. One of the feedback suggestions that came my way was to forget about players prior to 1967. A precious too few are first hand experts on most of these players, and the differences in eras made the task as unfair as it was nearly impossible. The Hockey News is taking this approach in the September 18th, 2007 book release The Top 60 Since 1967 . Here's the official press release from Random House: The Hockey News magazine has, for over sixty years, delivered the authoritative word on the premiere puckhandlers of our generation. In The Top 60 Since 1967 , they’ve assembled a panel of experts to celebrate the top 60 players of the NHL in the modern era of hockey — the 40 years since NHL expansion. A detailed analysis accompanies each player, along with photos and statistical charts. Will Wayne Gretzky trump Bobby Orr for the number one position? How does M...