As the lockdown goes on and on, the days seem longer and harder to fill. For kids especially, it can be hard to break the tedium of going nowhere and having nothing to do. Reading together can be a great bonding activity as well as a way to improve their literacy skills. So, to help you out I’m going to let you in on a great series to read together. But here’s the thing: you can’t tell anyone you’re reading it. Your kids can’t tell anyone they are reading it. And you certainly can’t tell anyone I told you to read it. See, before you read Hockey Super Six: The Puck Drops Here by Kevin Sylvester you must understand that the story is top secret. The book contains highly classified government secrets. If you so much as breathe a word of it government agents may eliminate you.

The Goobers (Greater Ottawa-Outaouais Brainy Educational Regional School) are just six ordinary kids. One of them is a little scrawny. One of them is a little weird. One of them is a complete space cadet. But they all love the same thing: hockey.

As much as The Goobers love hockey, they are not a successful team. In fact they kind of … suck. They have a lot of practicing to do if they want to remain on the team. Luckily Kevin, the team’s centre, has some connections. His mother is the Prime Minister. And the government may or may not have a top-secret ice rink hidden deep underground. And Kevin may or may not have the key to said rink.

Something strange happens on this top-secret underground rink when the kids sneak in to practice. I can’t share the details of course (lest government agents drag me away) but I will say that it involves an evil-genius scientist professor, a freeze ray and giant ice squids with questionable intelligence. Oh, and six kids with newly discovered superpowers. The rest of the story you’ll have to discover at your own peril.

As a kid, all Canadian author Kevin Sylvester read were comic books. Despite being told comics weren’t real books, reading Spiderman and Daredevil really helped him foster a love of reading. Although the Hockey Super Six series are not comics, they contain many elements that are similar. There are visuals throughout to help with comprehension. The words are written in different fonts to emphasize certain parts of the story. It is a great choice for reluctant readers who may struggle with reading solid chunks of text.

The Puck Drops Here is the first book in the Hockey Super Six series and the saga continues with On Thin Ice which is equally entertaining and full of hilarity….but I didn’t tell you that. Stay tuned for other great chapter book recommendations and be sure to check out last week’s recommendation too: Simon B’ Rhymin’ by Dwayne Reed.

— Lesley L.