Hockey Book Reviews.com

It took me several months of unreturned emails to the publicity contacts, but I finally have figured out why Raincoast Books have been so quiet on the hockey book front this fall. Raincoast has always been one of my favorite publishers because of the incredible quality of design and structure they invest into their projects. I would have paid them to have had Legends of Team Canada published under their banner. In conversation with Chris Mizzoni, author of Clancy With The Puck , I learned it was announced way back in January that Raincoast will stop publishing books after 2008 . The company cites rising costs associated with the high Canadian dollar as the reason. The truth is probably now that the Harry Potter books are finished, they do not want any part of the seemingly always perilous condition of the Canadian publishing industry. The company will return to it's core business of wholesale distribution. It's really a loss for hockey book fans. Like I said, Raincoast has put ...

Prolific hockey writer Mike Leonetti set out to answer one of the most difficult questions in all of hockey. Who is the greatest Toronto Maple Leaf of all time? Not an easy question, is it? While Montreal has Rocket Richard , Boston has Bobby Orr , Detroit has Gordie Howe , Chicago has Bobby Hull and Edmonton has Wayne Gretzky , is there a definitive face of the storied Toronto Maple Leafs franchise? In fact, when I named the top 36 hockey players of all time a couple months back, I did not include a single player synonymous with the Maple Leafs. ( Terry Sawchuk and Red Kelly both made my list, but I think most people always view them, especially Sawchuk, as Red Wings) If you were to ask 14 different people you'd come up with 14 different answers. Well that's exactly what Leonetti did for his latest book project Maple Leafs Top 100: Toronto's Greatest Players Of All Time . Leonetti asked a jury of Mark Askin, Howard Berger, Joe Bowen, Milt Dunnell, Doug Farraway, Paul H...

Yesterday I talked about Raincoast Books lucrative children's hockey book franchise. The beautifully illustrated and well written stories are amazing power sellers. Previous titles include Gretzky's Game , The Greatest Goal , The Goalie Mask , Number Four, Bobby Orr! , A Hero Named Howe and the incredibly successful franchise starter My Leafs Sweater . All of these books were written by Mike Leonetti. In 2007 Raincoast returns with two titles. They branched out and let Chris Mizzoni have a try with what is sure to be a hit in Clancy With The Puck . As I reviewed yesterday , this is a special title. And of course Raincoast returns with another Leonetti effort in Maple Leafs A-Z . And why not? The Leonetti/Raincoast formula has worked magnificently in the past, and the marketplace is all theirs. Except this book is a miss. Now I don't doubt for a second that this book will sell more copies than most books this season. Greg Banning returns and his artwork is amazing. The fran...

Raincoast Books 2007's entry in their annual children's hockey book marketplace is sure to be a huge, huge hit, as always. The amazingly beautiful new title Clancy with the Puck continues the publisher's popular children's book franchise, following previous releases such as Gretzky's Game , The Greatest Goal , The Goalie Mask , Number Four, Bobby Orr! , A Hero Named Howe and the incredibly successful franchise starter My Leafs Sweater . It's actually quite ingenious. These books follow the same formula: A good story, beautiful artwork and the high quality production that is Raincoast's trademark. They tend to be of historical reflection, which interests parents and allows for a great family moment to pass on the joy of both reading and hockey. The books are always popular under Christmas trees for years to come. And the publisher still has every public and elementary school library in Canada to sell at least one copy to. Raincoast's incredibly successf...