Roy MacGregor The Complete Screech Owls

Title: The Complete Screech Owls (anthology 4 titles)

Exciting Read Recommended 4 stars

The Review

The Complete Screech Owls is a four-in-one publication including 'The Secret of the Deep Woods,' 'Murder at the Winter Games,' 'Attack on the Tower of London,' 'The Screech Owls's Reunion.' Creators of the team were Muck Munro and Don Dillinger. Muck returned home to Tamarack, Canada when his junior hockey career was stopped short because a badly broken leg did not heal properly. He serves as team coach assisted by his talented cohort Larry 'Data' Ulmar. Over time 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' : begins with Wayne Nishikawa, Nish, defensive player speculating whether he might be pregnant his distended stomach and heaving queasiness are creating much distress. The Screech Owls are on a summer camping/canoe trip in Algonquin Park. Zilch goes quite as they expected during the adventure.

'Murder at the Winter Games' : originates with Travis who has placed a green jelly bean in his nose. Nish is in charge of the gross out Olympics and the situation is likely to get a lot shoddier before it improves. The Screech Owls are now spending a week at summer hockey camp. A cadaver hidden in the boathouse is unquestionably worse and the Screech Owls are caught up in trying to trace the murderer and unravel the mystery.

'Attack on the Tower of London' : commences with Travis going unconscious in front of the balance of the team. Commemorating Guy Fawkes Day in England may prove to be their ruination. Nish would like to be celebrated in Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, after all he is 'Wayne Nishikawa, the world's most abnormal and malevolent hockey player. The Screech Owls practice in the effort to turn into superlative in-line hockey players and discover themselves entangled in an additional lethal mystery.

'The Screech Owls' Reunion': It is now more than a decade later: Travis is teaching high school in Tamarack, Sam has a son, Muck, The Screech Owls are no longer youngsters, they no longer dream of fame as hockey players, furthermore they no longer play hockey as a team. The kids are living their own lives. Data runs a computer business, what else, with Fahd. Sarah, always a great player, is captain of the women's Olympic hockey team. Wilson is a police officer. As mind-boggling as it may appear; Nish is in Las Vegas, where always the show off, he is a member the well known group -The Flying Elvises-. With the reunion comes one more time that the team finds itself mixed up in another murderous mystery. When they gather for the get-together in Tamarack the team learns a gambling casino looms on the town's horizon.

On the pages of The Complete Screech Owls the booklover is propelled along on tour with the Screech Owls as they try to win games world wide. Team captain, Travis Lindsay, is our director and will let naught: not a terror campaign or death, incapacitation, larceny, hijacking, or whatever thing else stand in the way of the team on their pursuit for recognition and triumph.

I received a soft bound single volume for review, and would like to see some of the single editions. I plan to take this copy to my classroom come fall. I think the work will have appeal for the boys in the class and for many of the girls as well. I am considering separating the four books into individual ones so that four kids at a time can be reading rather than just one. The anthology is ideal for the home library. Single editions will work better in the classroom. The Complete Screech Owls is a must have for the active young reader.

Writer MacGregor has created a long running Canadian series which has won many awards and commendation among young ice hockey readers. Each of the four books included in this collection is well written, fast paced filled with adventurous exploits and just enough gross to intrigue middle grade readers. The mysteries are fundamental to the tales, the kids are plausible in their behaviors and manners.

Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.

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Reviewed by: Molly's Reviews

molly martin 20+ years classroom teacher

Genre: Middle Grades Fiction ages 9 - 13

Author: Roy MacGregor

Paperback: 488 pages

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart 79 Shelbourne Street Toronto Ontario Canada M5A 2P9

ISBN-10: 0771054971

ISBN-13: 978-0771054976