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Frank Scalise

Eleven-year-old Sam Parker is a hockey player entering the first year in which body checking is allowed. His natural fear of getting hit is temporarily overshadowed by finding out his parents are getting divorced. Determined to keep them together by being a hockey superstar, Sam instead suffers a bone-crunching check from the school bully in his first game of the season. The resulting pain and fear brings out the worst in Sam as one difficulty after another piles on. Even his best friend, Jill, doesn't always seem to understand what he's going through. Sam has to learn how to get up after life knocks you down – both on and off the ice. Fall Down. Get up. Fall Down. Get up. Life is hockey. Hockey is Life.

Jerry Sciarrio

Books In Motion

Sam the Hockey Player

The Hardest Hit

Everything should be great for young hockey player Sam Parker. He has just turned twelve. He plays center on The Rockets, the team he’s been on since Mites. His best friend, Jill, is the goal tender. And he just had his birthday.

So why isn’t he happy?

It’s simple–because his parents are still getting a divorce.

The bombshell news that landed last fall has a daily impact on Sam. His life is changing–in more ways than just this–and he struggles to keep on top of everything. School, friends, shuttling between his house and his dad’s new apartment… it all seems too much. He feels like he’s double-shifting and doesn’t know if he’s coming or going.

So, Sam devises a plan to get his parents back together. All it will take is becoming a star player. What could go wrong?

A lot, it turns out.

Double Shifting