Meet Willie O’ee Show how the first black player in the NHL, Willie O’Areee, built his career and the competition despite racial discrimination and disability, through determination and his love for hockey.
Meet Willie O’ee By Elizabeth MacLeod and illustrated by Mike Deas
This biography of Scholastic Canada about Willie O’ree was a pleasure to read. When opening the book I was immersed in the story with one of Willie’s most striking achievements, because I was the first black player in the NHL when he played for the Boston Bruins on January 18, 1958.
The story of O’ree is moving. It is full of hardships by not only being black in a white-dominant sport, but also being disabled because of a sports injury, and in learning persevering because of those hardships. Readers see how he has reached his dream as a player and hockey builderWhat an important aspect of his life is that is valuable for children to learn about.
The way in which Macleod writes about the discrimination that O’ree has passed while life in segregation is intentional and enables children to understand the concept, while they still protect them against harmful language before they are at an age where they can learn more deeply about slavery and racism. The pages illustrate some of the discrimination O’ree and other black people at that time, such as segregation of bathrooms and hotels. Macleod combines this fact of life with the story of O
The illustrations of this book are very well done. When opening, I met the lively colors of O’ree in the uniform of Boston Bruins and the watercolor texture that I love and what I am looking for in picture books. I always appreciate the textures that make watercolors on the pages in the smaller details of the backgrounds or the colors that bloom in larger washes that make their own unique texture in the illustrations.
The artwork is also striking with the graphic novel-like style in the speech bubbles, which contribute a kind of flair to the story, by adding that depth beyond the regular text of the book The way in which Deas combines the use of hard inked lines with the colored lines and emphasis on the parts of the story of the text or text.
There is a strong emphasis on the importance of community support that is depicted in this book, whether it is from the Van O’ree family and a close community that encourages his love for hockey while he taught him about the hardships with which he would be confronted with other players, or to help in the community after he had to play with marginal and retired and retired and retired and retired and retired and retired and retired and retired and retired and retired and retired to retire.
Meet Willie O This is especially important when such topics are written with a young audience in mind and are very deliberately depicted. I would recommend this book to every hockey or sports fan, regardless of race or competence.
Text Copyright Elizabeth Macleod. Illustrations Copyright Mike Deas.
Order Meet Willie O’ree here.
Please contact the columnist: raegen.prohockeynews@gmail.com
Elizabeth MacLeod is a award -winning author of many remarkable Canadian books. She likes to investigate and discover great facts and then share the information and secrets she discovers with readers. If she doesn’t write, Elizabeth loves reading, swimming, theater, singing, making jewelry and baking. Elizabeth lives in Toronto with her husband, Paul, and their cat, Cosimo.
Mike Deas Has illustrated many books in the last 10 years, including the Tank and Fizz series, and he is currently writing and illustrating his own graphic novel series. Apart from writing and illustrating, Mike works on his classic car, a Chevy Bel-Air from 1960, and loves walking and camping and reading. He lives with his wife and two young daughters on Salt Spring Island, BC.
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