Iced Out (Lerner Sports Stories)
January 1, 2026 by Lerner Publications ™
Copy provided by the publisher
One of Xio's moms has been transferred, and while starting at Grant Elementary is a little daunting, Xio is glad that the community has a travel hockey team rather than just a club one. When she goes to school, she sees boys wearing soccer jerseys and strikes up a conversation with Luke and Lamar, but they are dismissive and rude, telling her that girls don't play hockey. Only Todd is nice and agrees that girls could play as well. At least Ainsley asks Xio to sit with her at lunch, and the two bond over skating, since Ainsley and her friend Lainey are figure skaters. Xio encourages the girls to try out for hockey with her after skating at the local rink with members of the older girls hockey team. After drilling and practicing for weeks, Xio feels prepared for the tryouts, even though the boys tell her that she should join the Bumblebees instead of the Hornets. Xio, Lainey, Ainsley, and Davi all make the team, and the boys are angry because they displaced four of their friends. Luke and Lamar even try to push the girls around on the ice until their coach upbraids them for treating teammates poorly. Lainey wants to quit, but Xio encourages her to stay. When the team runs into former members Leo and Mikey, who now play for the Bumblebees, they find out that they are having a perfectly fine time, and know that not everyone can play on the same team. Xio has good skills, and because of her hard work, the team is doing well. Luke and Lamar eventually apologize, and the Hornets have more success when they all work together. The end of the book has a short biography about Grace Zumwinkle, who plays in the PWHL.
One of Xio's moms has been transferred, and while starting at Grant Elementary is a little daunting, Xio is glad that the community has a travel hockey team rather than just a club one. When she goes to school, she sees boys wearing soccer jerseys and strikes up a conversation with Luke and Lamar, but they are dismissive and rude, telling her that girls don't play hockey. Only Todd is nice and agrees that girls could play as well. At least Ainsley asks Xio to sit with her at lunch, and the two bond over skating, since Ainsley and her friend Lainey are figure skaters. Xio encourages the girls to try out for hockey with her after skating at the local rink with members of the older girls hockey team. After drilling and practicing for weeks, Xio feels prepared for the tryouts, even though the boys tell her that she should join the Bumblebees instead of the Hornets. Xio, Lainey, Ainsley, and Davi all make the team, and the boys are angry because they displaced four of their friends. Luke and Lamar even try to push the girls around on the ice until their coach upbraids them for treating teammates poorly. Lainey wants to quit, but Xio encourages her to stay. When the team runs into former members Leo and Mikey, who now play for the Bumblebees, they find out that they are having a perfectly fine time, and know that not everyone can play on the same team. Xio has good skills, and because of her hard work, the team is doing well. Luke and Lamar eventually apologize, and the Hornets have more success when they all work together. The end of the book has a short biography about Grace Zumwinkle, who plays in the PWHL.
It is hard for me to believe that over fifty years after Title IX boys still are resistant to girls on their teams! Even the Boy Scouts, now Scouting America, have female members, and my middle school had several girls on the team before enrollment dropped and we had to combine with another school. That makes books like this all the more important for young readers, so that they can understand that girls are just as good at sports as boys!
I loved that Xio and her friends put in the hard work to polish their skills for tryouts, and that they were determined to stick with the team even when the boys were rude. They stood up for themselves, and eventually changed the boys' minds. Characters who are resilient and persistent are great examples for younger readers, and I wish more middle grade books included these good examples.
There are a few shorter books about hockey, like Eyre's The Mean Girl Meltdown, McKnight's Jim Nasium is a Hockey Hazard, Mutinda and Walters' Hockey Night in Kenya, and Maddox's Slap-Shot Slump, although not all of them deal with the additional topic of girls in sports. Books for slightly older books that address this include Deibert's Bea Mullins Takes a Shot, Morrill's Being Sloan Jacobs, and Kim's On Thin Ice.
March 17, 2026 by Orca Book Publishers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Noah lives in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia in a town near the Bay of Fundy that is so small that students either need to go to a private Christian school for some of their years, or travel to a nearby town. As he enters 8th grade, he's dealing with the fact that his older brother, Jamie, who has always had problematic behavior, has run away to Halifax. His parents are struggling, so invite his Grandma Aisling to stay with them to keep an eye on Noah. She's a fiddler as well as an herbalist, traditions that are kept alive by Jamie, who is hoping to make a living playing fiddle. Noah is a swimmer, and when he finds that the winner of an end of year school meet will win an all expense paid trip to Halifax, he practices extra hard so that he can visit the city, find his brother, and bring him back. Classmate Jessica, however, informs him that SHE will be winning the meet. Noah has a crush on Alysha, and the two spend some sweet moments together, but there is drama when she confides in Jessica. Noah comes in second at the meet, but takes his savings and gets a bus to Halifax. He doesn't have a lot of money, and can't find his brother after checking several local bars. Taking a moment to look out at the ocean, he slips and falls in... and is rescued by Jessica, who is there with her parents. Eventually, his parents are contacted, Jamie is found, and the family is able to work through their problems with a therapist.
Strengths: I don't know anything at all about Nova Scotia, other than the Anne of Green Gables connection, so it was interesting to take a brief look at a community there. There also aren't a lot of books about swimming, so details of Noah's training and competition were appreciated. Including a light romance with some twists to it added some interest. While I don't approve of Noah taking off on a bus by himself, I have to applaud his initiative and independence, even if he doesn't plan as well as he should have. There's a happy ending to the book, and it's good that the family is shown attending therapy.
Weaknesses: It was interesting to see Grandma Aisling's herbal concoctions and hear her songs (a lot of them are quoted, and they have a bit of a sea shanty feel to them), but I'm not sure how either of these topics will resonate with my students.
What I really think: There's a lot of emotional impact in a missing sibling, and The Water You're Swimming In is a good choice for readers who like stories like Pfeffer's 1987 The Year Without Michael or Fritz's Everywhere Blue.
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