Sad news about Raincoast Books

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 out some beautiful books over the past number of years. The Legends series, The Game We Knew series, the Remembering series and many children's books were all awesome products.

Maple Leafs Top 100

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 Hendrick, Lance Hornby, Harry Neale, Frank Orr, Paul Patskou, Frank Selke, Bill Watters, co-author John Iaboni and himself to determine a definitive list of the top 100 players in Maple Leafs history.

Coming up with this list is extremely difficult. The Leafs glory years came in the 1940s and 1960s. Very little video evidence and first hand accounts exist for the late '40s dynasty, so how do you fairly treat Syl Apps, Teeder Kennedy, Turk Broda and Max Bentley. Even the 1960s dynasty is very distant, and those teams really prided themselves on putting the team before the individual. Frank Mahovlich, Johnny Bower and Dave Keon stood out, but perhaps their legacies were minimalized. The Leafs have had so little success since the 1960s that a couple generations of fans don't know what a championship run really is. Championships = greatness, so how do you compare Darryl Sittler, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark and Mats Sundin.

Well the panel of experts narrowed it down, and I have to say I'm highly impressed with the results, or at least the top end. The panel's voting identifies Dave Keon as the greatest of the Maple Leafs, with Teeder Kennedy, Syl Apps, Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Charlie Conacher, Johnny Bower, Tim Horton, Turk Broda and Borje Salming rounding out the top 10.

I have no real qualms over the top 10 list, though once you realize who is not included you realize how tough this undertaking really is. Where's Mats Sundin, the franchise's all time leading scorer? Where's King Clancy, once the undisputed face of the franchise? How about George Armstrong, Doug Gilmour, Max Bentley....

The list goes 100 deep, which is an aesthetically pleasing number, but perhaps a bit too long. Even with 80 years of history to wade through, do Mark Osborne or Todd Gill really belong in a book about the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time? With this being the 80th anniversary of the franchise, perhaps 80 would have been enough?

This book is published by Raincoast Books, and as always they come through with the most beautiful of books. Each of the top 100 receive a full color photo (except, for obvious reasons, for some of the players from decades ago) with at least one more smaller color image.

Leonetti is a power writer, churning out books left, right, and center. In fact, just 5 years ago he did the book Maple Leaf Legends: 75 Years of Toronto's Hockey Heroes, featuring the top 75 players in his estimation. His usual style is to accompany Raincoast's commitment to beautiful photography with biographies, some of which can be quite brief.

Leonetti recognizes that his past formula for success needs refreshing for another greatest Leafs book. Instead of biographies Leonetti highlights a single game in each player's career which was the defining moment in each player's time with the Leafs.

Now the defining moment provides for some nice reading, but it somehow leaves me feeling like the book is lacking. If you write a book ranking the greatest players of all time, then I want some defense of the results. I know it was a panel decision and not Leonetti exclusively, but compel me, wow me with some arguments why. Too controversial? All the better! The greatest game idea is a wonderful concept, but perhaps for another book.

I think the best part of the book's text is essayist John Iaboni's contributions. Perhaps too often his compositions are too biographical, but when he allows himself to get personal in his memories (Keon, Bower) he writes wonderful stuff.

All in all, I think this is a REALLY good book that comes up a bit short of being a GREAT book.

Hockey Book Review: Maple Leafs A-Z

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 franchise's reputation precedes itself, particularly with collectors and public and elementary school library systems. And the #1 rule about publishing hockey books is Maple Leafs books sell. Lots.

My number one complaint about this book: A - Z doesn't make much sense. Now I'll give Leonetti leeway with Max Bentley for the X entry, but E is Ted Kennedy and U is for Mats Sundin? Or H is for Busher Jackson or I is for King Clancy? Every kid I showed this book to drew the same conclusion. "That makes no sense."

Another common complaint: the kids this book is aimed at don't have a clue who anyone other than Sundin is. T is for Darcy Tucker and W is for Kyle Wellwood and M is for Bryan McCabe. I'd have to travel back in time and find myself if I wanted to find an 8 year old who knew who Dave Keon, Happy Day, Red Kelly, Syl Apps or Joe Primeau were.

Now who am I to criticize the Raincoast franchise on this subject. After all, I am the Hockey History Blogger and I think it is great that a) hockey history books are aimed at children and b) there are enough children out there to keep churning out more titles.

But I do find it hard to believe most kids want to connect with players of yesteryear they never heard of. They don't care about Turk Broda, they want Vesa Toskala. Who cares about Borje Salming, where's Tomas Kaberle? Tim Horton is some donut guy, he never played for the Maple Leafs.

Leonetti's previous children's titles all told a well written story, be it about the first goalie mask, the famous goal that beat the Russians, the 10 point game or of the career of #99. But this book just offers the briefest of biographies. It lacks Leonetti's trademark enthusiasm. Only Banning's artwork saves this book.

Overall Book Rating: 1/5 Back Up Goalie

Hockey Book Reviews: Clancy With The Puck

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 successful children's franchise will likely churn out new titles every year for some time to come.

2007 is a bit an experiment for Raincoast. While all the previous holdings were written by super-writer Mike Leonetti, new writer Chris Mizzoni steps in on this title. He also illustrates the book. Leonetti does return with a new children's title for 2007, Maple Leafs A-Z, which will be reviewed shortly.

Mizzoni doesn't miss a step, and Raincoast spares no resources, as the two teamed up to produce the most beautiful hockey book I've perhaps ever seen. The artwork and color is simply amazing, and appeals to both adults and children. For the very young the artwork tells its own story, allowing youth to fall in love with books and with reading and making their own stories up as they flip the pages.

Because of the artwork and production, I so wanted to love this book and give it the instant classic designation before I even read the story. And that's where I'm troubled just a touch by the book.

Mizzoni copies the classic Casey at the Bat, the 1888 baseball/literary classic by poet Ernest Thayer. Our hero on the ice is named Clancy Cooke, and is based loosely on the real life "King" Clancy. Our overconfident protagonist cockily lives through great success, but when the Stanley Cup is on the line he comes up just short.

Only as an adult did I understand the greatness of the original Casey, but as a youth I never did. I only really enjoyed the Walt Disney adaptation which ends with a happy ending. Mizzoni's Clancy sticks with the original stencil, basically ending the book with the surprise failure.

I wondered how today's kids would take to this book, so I took it to them. The results were consistent: the beautiful artwork instantly grabbed their attention, and the happy story sucked them in only to be shocked by the ending. Most kids didn't get it, and the few that were more didn't like the character after all. He was too "arrogant" said one girl.

So I'm afraid I can't quite give this book the Hall of Fame status that I want to. Mizzoni's poetry is really clever, although occasionally a bit too wordy for youngsters. As great as the artwork is and as captivating as the story starts out, the sudden and unexpected ending leaves can leave a young reader no longer in love with the book.

One more note, the book also comes with a DVD that brings the story to life on your TV or computer screens. I found the kids were more receptive to the story in this medium, although that may be a sign of the times. The animated short is narrated by legendary Hockey Night In Canada commentator Bob Cole. It may have just been me or my copy, but I did find the DVD difficult to get out of the plastic pocket. Be sure to help your child get the disc out on the initial viewing.

Bottom line, you have to check out this book. It is that beautiful! I know it is proudly displayed in my office.

Overall Book Rating: 4/5 All Star