About this ebook
Young Jacques Plante’s way of playing hockey may look different from everyone else’s. Instead of a puck, he uses a tennis ball, and his shin pads are made out of potato sacks and wooden slats. But that’s not going to stop him. He loves the game.
Jacques is drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in his mid-twenties. Fans love the unstoppable goalie as he leads his team to one victory after another. But there’s a price to pay: pucks to the face result in a broken jaw, broken cheekbones, multiple stitches, and even a skull fracture.
One day, Jacques has had enough. He goes on the ice wearing a fiberglass mask. The coach orders him to take it off.
Finally, at a game against the Rangers, when yet another puck hits Jacques square in the face, he puts his foot down. He will not continue to play unless he’s allowed to wear a mask.
Young hockey fans will enjoy this story of Jacques Plante, whose determination and love of the game brought about a revolutionary change to how it is played.
About the author
If she could, Andrée Poulin would read from morning to night. Her love of reading is what brought her to writing. After working as a journalist for many years, she worked in international development. She has written over thirty books for children of all ages. Many have won awards, most notably the TD Children’s Literature Award (French language) for La plus grosse poutine du monde, now translated into English and published by Annick Press as The Biggest Poutine in the World (2016). Her stories deal with friendship, empathy, tolerance, poverty, and solidarity. Andrée believes that books can change the world. By setting her stories in Canada, Africa, and Asia, she takes her readers on adventures in discovering other cultures, as she does in Pablo Finds a Treasure (2016, available in Spanish in Fall 2018). Her latest book with Annick Press is That’s Not Hockey! (Fall 2018), a picture book based on the life of the inventor of the goalie mask, Jacques Plante. Andrée loves to share her passion for reading and her pleasure for writing with children. She writes a blog, reviews books for the National Reading Campaign, and gives workshops for youth in schools and libraries. Andrée was born and raised in Orléans, Ontario. She now lives in Gatineau, Quebec.
FÉLIX GIRARD is a professional illustrator living in Quebec City. His work has been published and exhibited numerous times around the world.
