Gabe (don’t call her Gabriella) was thrilled to be chosen
for the town’s best hockey team. And she was younger by a year than anyone else
on team – she was that good. But her excitement soon turned to disappointment
when the coach handed out the jerseys. Gabe’s lucky number was 22, the same as
her hockey hero Hayley Wickenheiser, a legend in women’s hockey in Canada. But
the team’s jersey numbers only went up to #20; Gabe ended up with #9.
When she got home that afternoon, Gabe went straight to her bedroom, stuffed her #9 jersey at the bottom of her closet, and decided she was not playing hockey that year. Her mother didn’t understand – “It’s just a number,” she said. But later that night, when Gabe was supposed to be sleeping, her grandmother Gabriella (don’t call her Gabe) poked her head in the room.
What follows is a touching lesson about – well, so many things that it is hard to enumerate them. I can tell you that this is the most touching, heart-warming picture book I have read in a long time, and I read a lot of them. Whether hockey is your game or not, life’s lessons can be learned in any arena. Pick this one up to share with children of all ages. It’s a winner.
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