hockey girl loves drama boy

In a moment of reading serendipity, a friend recently recommended to me a book that I already had on my to-read list (and better yet, had already bought!). That book was Faith Erin Hicks’ 2023 young adult graphic novel Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy. I was sold at hockey + rom-com, but with a friend’s genuine excitement in play, it moved up to the top of the pile, and I finished it – and loved it – earlier this month, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

It should have been a night of triumph for Alix’s hockey team. But her mean teammate Lindsay decided to start up with her usual rude comments and today Alix, who usually tries to control her anger, let it finally run free. Alix lashes out and before she knows it, her coach is dragging her off Lindsay, and the invitation to the Canada National Women’s U18 Team’s summer camp is on the line.

She needs to learn how to control this anger, and she is sure Ezra, the popular and poised theater kid from her grade is the answer. So she asks for his help. But as they hang out and start get closer, Alix learns that there is more to Ezra than the cool front he puts on. And that maybe this friendship could become something more...

Alix loves hockey and hockey loves her back. However, her team captain Lindsey has been slowly breaking down that passion with bullying, and one day Alix snaps and responds with physical aggression. In an effort to learn how to control and move past her anger, Alix reaches out to well-liked, poised drama geek Ezra. With Ezra’s help, Alix hopes to prove to her coach that she deserves a spot at a prestigious hockey camp. Somewhere in the midst of hanging out at his family’s second hand store, going to a public ice skate (peak Canadian!), and helping to put together the school’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, Alix and Ezra start to crush on each other. However, Ezra’s best friend is upset that he's hanging out with Alix, and Alix’s mom (a Canadian-famous artist) isn’t a fan of hockey for her own reasons… among other impediments. Will it all turn out in the end? Spoiler alert: there’s a rom-com worthy happy ending!

Author-illustrator Hicks’ characters are the highlight of this story. Quiet, stoic-seeming Aliz is learning to deal with an excess of emotion all of a sudden, and navigating complex and fraught family relationships as well as a romantic relationship for the first time. It’s enough to stress anyone out, but Alix’s drive to improve in hockey fuels changes in other areas of her life as well. Alix is open to new experiences, and so she grows! Other main character Ezra seems like he has his life together, but he too is struggling – with trust, and to be a good person – to not take advantage of those who love him. Together, they’re a delightful bundle of hormones, issues, and identity crises. How does Hicks turn this into a viable rom-com after all??! 

First, with character revelations, like the fact that Ezra is still figuring out his sexual identity, but he can fight homophobic bullies in the meantime! And then a road trip complete with pancakes and a car breakdown, and finally, with a hockey game and boba tea. Throw it all together, and you get a graphic novel that is, at times, too cute for words!

Hicks’ illustrations feature black ink linework on a white background, with some spots of sky blue as highlights, and really focus on details that move the plot along. There’s a lot of movement and emotion in Hicks’ drawings, which for this book were drawn first digitally, and then inked on paper with a watercolor brush. Some of my favorite scenes were ones that included hockey play, but my absolute favorite panels were two where Alix is thinking about Ezra and has a bunch of little hearts floating around her head, and then they “pop!” like bubbles as she convinces herself that there’s no way that Ezra could return her feelings. All that to say, the story would be great regardless, but the illustrations add wonderful layers of enjoyment and meaning. 

In all, Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy is a satisfying young adult romance with LGBTQ+ representation, excellent swoon factor, and art that will knock your socks off. 

Recommended for: fans of young adult romances and hockey, and anyone looking for an authentic and heartwarming story!

a place to hang the moon

There are lots of excellent books for children out in the world. I would define "excellent" in a couple of different ways, but to really earn the title, a book should be interesting, funny, heartwarming (or in general make you feel some true emotion deeply). And a book needn't have all of the above, but it should have SOME of these elements. Kate Albus' middle grade novel A Place to Hang the Moon got just about the highest recommendation I could think of a few years ago from a trusted source (a fellow Cybils judge) online, so I immediately bought it. It then sat unread on my shelf for three years. *crying emoji* Luckily, a young person I know and love just turned ten and is a voracious reader, just like the characters in this book, so I picked up off the shelf and finally read it... so that we could have a wonderful chat about it when she does. And now that I know personally how lovely it is, I can't wait to see what she thinks.

 

It is 1940 and William, 12, Edmund, 11, and Anna, 9, aren’t terribly upset by the death of the not-so-grandmotherly grandmother who has taken care of them since their parents died.

But the children do need a guardian, and in the dark days of World War II London, those are in short supply, especially if they hope to stay together. Could the mass wartime evacuation of children from London to the countryside be the answer?

It’s a preposterous plan, but off they go– keeping their predicament a secret, and hoping to be placed in a temporary home that ends up lasting forever. Moving from one billet to another, the children suffer the cruel trickery of foster brothers, the cold realities of outdoor toilets and the hollowness of empty stomachs.

But at least they find comfort in the village lending library– a cozy shelter from the harshness of everyday life, filled with favorite stories and the quiet company of Nora Müller, the kind librarian.  The children wonder if Nora could be the family they’ve been searching for... But the shadow of the war, and the unknown whereabouts of Nora’s German husband complicate matters. 

A Place to Hang the Moon is a story about the importance of family: the one you’re given, and the one you choose.

Anna, Edmund, and William (listed in order from youngest to oldest, and William at a lofty 12-years-old!) are siblings growing up in the midst of London during World War II. They've been sheltered while living at their grandmother's house (because they are orphans), but now she's dead as well and they don't have a guardian. Never mind the bombs being dropped by German planes! So, they join a troop of kids from a nearby school and are evacuated to the countryside. An unlikely goal also resides in their hearts – to find a forever home in their billet, with a family who thinks "hang the moon," as their dead parents used to say. Of course, wanting something and making it happen are two different things.

Although Albus doesn't describe the countryside sparsely, per se, she saves her description mostly for interior scenes (with a few notable exceptions – rat-catching, for one!), and so most of the book indoor activities and interpersonal interactions. It is through these interactions that the reader really takes the measure of the siblings. William, responsible, solid, and a little bit anxious – made into a parent for his younger siblings and feeling the strain. Edmund, irrepressible and without filter, and with a strong sense of justice (and injustice). Anna still with some little girl softness and optimism that William especially doesn't want to crush. These children are thrust into life as evacuees, with no backup plan, and so they make the best of it – experiencing sometimes wonderful and at times awful things in search of a forever home.

 

One thing the author does particularly well is to incorporate books and a love of reading (and there are different flavors of this in each of the children) into the book in general. Allusions to the books that would have been popular in the 1940s are woven throughout the story and suffuse the book with a warmth and sense of time that makes it feel, as much as a modern book can, of that era. I told a friend of mine that it has Narnia vibes. There isn't a magic wardrobe, but the sibling adventures (and squabbles, of course) as well as the countryside away from the bombing and without parents – these things align. The mentions of A Little Princess throughout mirrored the wish-fulfillment that the children experienced, and heightened the emotional weight of the story. Albus knows how to turn on the waterworks. Also, I want to assure you, dear reader, that yes, there is a happy ending!

Something I am always thinking of, as an IB teacher, is who the intended audience of a text is, and how that may change its meaning. As an adult, I am not the intended audience for this story, but I found it extremely charming, cozy, and heartwarming. I believe its intended audience will find it an adventure and a half – American youngsters typically won't have experience (or even generational knowledge of) with gas masks, evacuations, rat-catching, victory gardens, and more. But with such a lovely story attached, they may become curious about these foreign objects and activities and end up enamored with the time period and/or historical fiction in general. 

In all, A Place to Hang the Moon is a cozy, heart-wrenching gem of a story that calls back to the classics of the middle grade genre. 

Recommended for: young people ages 8 and up who like sibling stories, adventures, and who understand the joy of reading a good book. Would be an excellent bedtime read aloud as well, for children ages 7 and up.