"Filled with poetry and with life...an insightful beautifully written story."

— Horn Book

Gr 5–7—This short story (Atheneum, 1983) by Gary Paulsen takes place during an earlier time in McKinley, Minnesota, where life revolves around playing hockey. When Carl returns to the small town as a war veteran, no one knows quite what to make of him. Marsh and his best friend, Willy, hang out at the rinks observing Carl's strange behavior and trying to figure him out. Marsh narrates his observations of Carl as he tiptoes along the edge of sanity, hitting the bottle while listening and dancing to scratchy records. Will a strange courtship save him or send him over the edge? What may be a poetic story to read turns into something more tedious in audio format. Nick Podehl voices the characters with more conviction than the story demands, and the writing is somewhat wearisome. So many words are spent explaining that something great is going to happen that the actual event is anticlimactic.—Jill Webb, Farmington Community Library,

McKinley, Minnesota, is a small town where everyone looks out for each other. In the winter, life happens at the rinks: Kids play hockey, grown-ups skate to scratchy records, and miracles happen. In the voice of 12-year-old Morris, narrator Nick Podehl tells of the winter that Carl appeared in a tattered flight jacket and took over the maintenance and supervision of the rinks. Podehl adds music to Paulsen’s poetic language, especially as he describes the mysterious, disturbing yet somehow enchanting dance that Carl does. Paulsen’s lyrical story of courage, compassion, and community is given new life with Podehl’s sensitive interpretation. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine