This week is rhyming book week on my youtube channel Great Books for Kids Reviewed by Michelle Marcotte. As part of rhyming week, I am happy to bring you Skate Like a Girl by Alison Haenlin and Illustrated by Seema Haider. This is a fun story told in well-balanced and clear rhyming words. Kate wants to learn to skate and she does, of course. Then she wants to play hockey. We see her tying on black hockey skates. Learning to play hockey requires much practice, days and nights of practice until she can finally join a team.
But wait! She will be the only girl on the hockey team! What will the boys think? Well, it turns out the boys think she is a terrific hockey player and Kate succeeds.
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his is a great book for a girl with dreams, hockey or otherwise. The message is practice diligently, be confident and try your best. It is a good book to inspire a child who is going to learn how to skate, because learning to skate is not easy, often frustrating, and takes a while to learn. It is a good book for a girl who wants to play hockey or ringette, which is an equally exciting game played on ice.
Both the writer and illustrator are from Ottawa Canada, where people know winter all too well and learn to enjoy winter sports at an early age. Alison Haenlin is so determined a writer that she created her own publishing house called Rise Little Queen, to encourage big dreams and challenge societal norms. Seema Haider is a South Asian-Canadian artist and illustrator. A background in psychology has helped her understand the importance of the formidable years in a young child’s mind. The children she illustrates are happy and confident. All the details are there in warm colors.
Skate Like a Girl is available from Rise Little Queen Publishing in Ottawa or from Amazon.