Cracking the Ice is about a black, smart, teen boy who has a passion for hockey. In 1968, the civil rights era, Jessie Stackhouse is given a scholarship to go and play at a private, all white, and all boys school in New Hampshire. Jessie has to leave behind all the things he loves in order to fulfill his hockey dreams. Jessie knows he will have to face many racist people. Jessie is surprised when he finds out that he is in much danger, and his team and coach despises him purely for the color of his skin.
I enjoyed this book because of the suspense. Every event was always interesting. Hendrickson kept me intrigued into this book. I never wanted to shut the front cover. Another reason is the way Hendrickson writes. The narrator in this book is half Jessie and half Hendrickson. You can hear the thoughts going on in Jessie s head, but then you hear things that Jessie hasn' t even heard yet. This book really touched me. It really showed me how hard it was to live in that era, and the danger that they lived in. One thing that I disliked was that fact that Hendrickson took the violence a little too far in the book. By doing this Hendrickson disallowed younger children to read this masterpiece.
I rated this book a three, because the violence. In one point of the book, they try to kill a boy. There is also use of alcohol in the book. There are terms used in this book that are not appropriate for younger kids, and there are racist terms.
Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leawood, Kansas United States of America
