• Age: 10 to 13
• Grade: 4 to 8
• Reading age: 7 to 10

When twin brothers Evan and Brynley Selkirk move with their family from the remote Cree community of Whapmagoostui to bustling Calgary, their worlds turn upside-down. In place of the grey, frigid waters of Hudson Bay, they see the downtown canyons of a modern city.
Bryn, a musical prodigy, trades piano practice for hockey practice to impress a new girlfriend; Evan, the family hockey hero, starts running with a bad crowd and neglecting the game. As the brothers' lies get them in deeper and deeper trouble with their parents, they have to rely on each other to gain the courage to do what's right.
Rink Rivals is an action-packed account of how sport can help young people find the courage to confront sudden and radical changes in their lives.

Award-winning author JACQUELINE GUEST is the author of numerous Lorimer novels, including the Arthur Ellis Award nominee Wild Ride and A Goal in Sight, which was shortlisted for a Golden Eagle Children's Choice Book Award. Many of her novels have also been Canadian Children's Centre Our Choice selections including the SideStreets novel At Risk, and the Sports Stories novels Hat Trick, Free Throw, and Soccer Star. Jacqueline Guest lives in Bragg Creek, Alberta.

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Rink Rivals is well-written, addictive, and highly engaging. Guest is particularly adept at creating relatable characters that are compelling in their own development as well as in how they act throughout the narrative. The text is well suited for its audience of youngand also reluctantreaders. While Rink Rivals is much more geared toward a male audience, girls with an interest in sports will also likely get much enjoyment out of this novel which is deserving of its designation as a Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Book.
Highly Recommended

CM: Canadian Materials of Review

Rink Rivals

In this Sport Stories series title, Bryn, a piano prodigy who looks like his white father is not ashamed of his Cree mother and his brother who looks like her, but when the family moves from a remote Cree community to Calgary, the two boys go to different schools and the subject of his heritage never comes up. When Kelsey, his new “study buddy”, makes disparaging comments about Indians and also about musicians, misunderstandings follow. Evan, on the other hand, a talented hockey player but not used to having to make his own friends, aligns himself with a crowd of tough boys who don’t mind breaking the rules. That both boys play hockey on opposing teams only serves to exacerbate their inherent rivalry. In the end, each of them comes to the aid of the other and they do what’s right.

This is a Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice. Guest is a Métis author.