The Magic Hockey Stick (Picture Puffins) - Softcover

Maloney, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142300152 ISBN 13: 9780142300152

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2001

Synopsis

Inspired by a real event, this is the fictional tale of a little girlwhose parents win Wayne Gretzky's hockey stick at an auction. When thechild begins to play with it, she becomes her team's star. Meanwhile,"The Great One" goes into the greatest slump of his career. Realizing he needs the stick more than she does, the girl returns it to him, andGretzky gets over his thousand-goal hump.

Peter Maloney andFelicia Zekauskas really did win a Gretzky hockey stick at an auction,and The Great One subsequently did go into a slump. The authors haveturned their adventure into THE book for young sports fans, with cleverrhyming verse, witty pictures, and a heartfelt theme about what it means to give. They will donate a percentage of proceeds from this book tothe New York Presbyterian Hearst Burn Center for Pediatric Burn Care,which held the original auction.

American Bookseller made the duo's first book, Redbird at Rockefeller Center, a fall 1997 Pick of the Lists, and called it "reminiscent of Dr. Seuss classics." With The Magic Hockey Stick, they've done it again!

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Maloney spent most of his childhood playing in the woods behind the house he grew up in in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. He wrote his first book, a 165-page novel called Journey Under The Pacific Ocean, when he was eleven years old.

After graduating from Rutgers College, Peter took courses in illustration and design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He began submitting children's picture books to publishing houses. They were all rejected. At the same time he worked at an advertising agency in New York City creating ads, jingles and tv commercials including the original Milk Moustache campaign for Dellwood Milk. Around this time he also met a young college graduate named Felicia Zekauskas. During their very first conversation he discovered she also shared the dream of writing and illustrating children's books.

Peter and Felicia then went into business together. They started a graphic design and advertising company called Zinc. In their spare time, they began collaborating on picture books. Their first book, Redbird at Rockefeller Center, is the story of a baby redbird stranded atop the world's most famous Christmas tree. Their second book, The Magic Hockey Stick, is based on what happened to them after they won Wayne Gretzky's hockey stick at a charity auction at Madison Square Garden.

In addition to sports stars, Peter's heroes have always included writers, artists and songwriters. As a boy he loved reading books by Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, J.R.R. Tolkien and Kenneth Robeson. His favorite songwriters are Joni Mitchell, Ray Davies and Cole Porter and his favorite illustrators include William Steig, Charles Addams, Jean Pierre Sempe and Edward Sorel.

There's nothing Peter would rather do than write and illustrate picture books, although he would also like to be a famous rock star.

Peter now lives on the 37th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Manhattan. From his window, he can still see the distant woods he played in as a child.

copyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2-A young hockey player receives the ultimate gift when her parents accidentally buy Wayne Gretzky's hockey stick at a charity auction. However, her father insists that she keep the expensive collector's item displayed on pegs above her bed. Temptation overcomes, and the stick is smuggled to the ice rink inside a huge stuffed giraffe. With the autographed stick, the child scores goal after goal and her team has its best season ever. Meanwhile, Gretzky himself is in a scoring slump. The newspaper says he's lost his stuff. After a sleepless night full of guilty dreams, the protagonist hurries to Madison Square Garden determined to return the magic stick. The hockey pro is so touched by his young fan's generosity that he requests her autograph. A satisfying ending shows the famous stick displayed at the Hockey Hall of Fame. This story is told in humorous rhyme and is accompanied by delightful cartoon illustrations. Even children who have no knowledge of hockey will be entertained by this book and impressed by its message. Maloney and Zekauskas have scored a winning goal with this one.
Jackie Hechtkopf, University of Maryland, College Park
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0142300152
• ISBN 13: 9780142300152
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Zekauskas Felicia