THE THIRD PERIOD COMEBACK

Magic, menstruation, and hockey form an unlikely triumvirate.

Under normal circumstances, getting your first period doesn’t make the news. Alas, Hayley Rilko isn’t a typical 14-year-old. Thanks to a well-known sports curse invoked when her great-grandfather, a legendary hockey player, died in a plane crash, everyone in Hayley’s family must quit the sport after adolescence sets in—any team they play for is doomed to losing streaks. But Hayley resolves to do the impossible, with the help of her cousins: raise the spirit of their departed ancestor, find his bones in the Northern Ontario woods, and break their curse at last. Johnston plays off sports fans’ natural inclinations toward superstition by creating a world where sports curses are documented and dangerous. Marvelous little “intermissions” weave famous real-world curses that some kids may recognize into the tale. Snappy dialogue moves the narrative along at a fast clip, though some of it (“Sexual dimorphism is stupid”), along with undefined terms like muskeg, may confound younger readers; others, however, will be drawn in. A family tree will help readers navigate the large cast of family members. The occasional use of profanity suggests that this is, perhaps, a better choice for slightly older readers. Characters present white.

A witty and fun tale for sophisticated readers unafraid of a little challenge.