Eyes on the Ice
In 1963 Soviet-controlled Prague, three brothers play hockey on a frozen pond with makeshift equipment while their father cheers them on, until they are recruited to play for a real team on a real ice rink. Twelve-year-old Lukas can talk about the sport with enthusiasm, unlike everything else in his life. “In Czechoslovakia, there are lots of questions with no answers, and lots of things we don’t talk about”—things like why his Uncle Pavel lost everything after the occupation began and what his father hides in the secret hole in the floor of his closet. It’s hard to understand why people lie, especially the people you trust the most, until it suddenly becomes clear that not knowing some things can keep the people you love the safest.
First Andrej’s father goes missing, then Lukas’s own father, accused of anti-communist crimes. The boys are questioned at school by the StB (the secret police) but manage to resist their lies and threats. Withholding information gets them kicked off the hockey team, and hope fades that everything can go back to the way it was. When suspicions run wild and there is no one left to trust, desperate decisions must be made.
This riveting story about sorting truth from lies and when to blur the lines between, will appeal to young sports fans and historians alike. It draws from true stories of Czech citizens’ fight for freedom. With the invasion of Ukraine, this middle-grade story is more timely than ever, reminding us how precious national sovereignty is.
