The reader is carried along on tour with the Screech Owls, youth hockey team, as they compete world wide. Team captain, Travis Lindsay, is our guide and will let nothing: not terrorism or murder, sabotage, theft, kidnapping, or anything else stand in the way of the team on their quest for acceptance and success.

Founders of the team were Muck Munro and Don Dillinger, Muck who came home to Tamarack, Canada when his junior hockey career was stopped short because a badly broken leg did not heal properly, serves as team coach assisted by his able associate Larry 'Data' Ulmar.

The team has included players Travis Lindsay, Liz Moscovitz, Simon Milliken, Sarah Cuthbertson, Andy Higgins, Gordie Griffith, Derek Dillinger, Fahd Noorizadeh, Jesse Highboy, Dmitri Yakushev, Wayne Nishikawa, Lars Johanssen, Wilson Kelly, Samantha Bennett, Willie Granger, Jenny Staples and Jeremy Weathers may be the best to date.

The Secret of the Deep Woods opens with defensive player Wayne Nishikawa, Nish, wondering if he might be pregnant… his swollen stomach and retching nausea are causing him deep concern. The Screech Owls are on a summer camping/canoe trip in Algonquin Park.

Nothing goes quite as they expected.

Murder at the Winter Games opens with Travis who has placed a green jelly bean in his nose. Nish is in charge of the gross out Olympics and things may get a lot worse before they get better. The Screech Owls are now spending a week at summer hockey camp.

A body hidden in the boathouse is definitely worse and the Screech Owls are caught up in trying to locate the murderer and solve the mystery.

Attack on the Tower of London opens with Travis passing out cold right in front of the rest of the team. Celebrating Guy Fawkes Day in England may prove to be their undoing. Nish would like to be immortalized in Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors, after all he is ‘Wayne Nishikawa, the world’s most twisted and evil hockey player.

The Screech Owls practice to become top notch as in-line hockey players and find themselves embroiled in another murderous mystery.

The Screech Owls's Reunion: Travis now teaches high school in Tamarack, Sam has a son, Muck, The Screech Owls are no longer kids, and they no longer play hockey as a team.

A decade has passed, the kids are living their own lives.

Data runs a computer business with Fahd. Sarah is captain of the women's Olympic hockey team. Wilson is a police officer. As unbelievable as it may seem; Nish is in Las Vegas, where he is a member the well know group; The Flying Elvises.

The team finds itself embroiled in another murderous mystery when they gather for a reunion in Tamarack and learn a gambling casino looms on the horizon.

Writer MacGregor has crafted a long running Canadian series which has garnered many awards and acclaim among young ice hockey readers.

Each of the four books included in this compilation is well written, fast paced filled with action and just enough gross to intrigue middle grade readers. The mysteries are integral to the tales, the kids are believable in their behaviors and manners.

I received a single, soft bound volume for review, and would like to see some of the single editions. I took the book with me to my 4th grade classroom during fall 2007 when I returned to teaching after a hiatus of ten years. 

I read aloud to my resident critics, students each day from the books I received  for review.  During the two years I taught 4th grade before returning to First Grade;  the students were pleased that their opinions were going to be included in my reviews.  They took their job very seriously, listened well, and had good suggestions during discussion time at the end of the daily reading. 

I found the four tales presented in the  anthology had great appeal for the students in  my two 4th grade classes.  Finding a book to appeal to 10 year old boys is not always an easy task.

I separated the four books into individual editions so that four students at a time could choose one of the four for pleasure reading and for taking home to read with family.

The compilation is ideal for the home library. A must have for the active young reader.

Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend for the middle grade classroom, school library, and middle grade reader.

Reviewed by: Molly's Reviews

molly martin

30+ years classroom teacher

Genre: Middle Grades Fiction ages 9 - 13

Author: Roy MacGregor

Paperback: 488 pages

Publisher: Screech Owls

ISBN-10: 0771054971

ISBN-13: 978-0771054976