The Kid Line.

A friend introduced me to Teddy Jam.
Night Cars, was the first book we read.
From the first pages of the first book, he had us hooked.

Since then we've read so many:
Dr. Kiss Says Yes
How We Were
This New Baby



Friday, we borrowed The Kid Line from the library downtown.

It's the sweetest story, told by the son of a hockey-loving man who grows up in Toronto, with Lionel and Charlie Conacher.
In adulthood, the boy's father becomes a mason, one of the many who built The Maple Leaf Gardens, brick by brick. The Conacher brothers become part of the famous *Kid Line*, playing for the Maple Leafs in the 1930s. The glory days of hockey and the iconic arena.

I'm no little to nothing about hockey. I've never been a big fan, but there's just something about this story: the history of Toronto and the Leafs, the story about how the war changed this boy's father forever, and the magical night they shared with their hero and their favorite game. It's nostalgic and magical and for some reason it brings tears to my eyes....

We've been reading it over and over. Simultaneously heading out to the backyard where we skate "like *The Kid Line*, mom!" on our little patch of ice.









Rosy cheeks, sore feet, bellies full of giggles.
There's something so quintessentially Canadian about a backyard rink, and the brisk cold, and the enjoying of winter......




....and the trip to the pub afterwards.
Happy Monday!