I’m not sure why I loved this book so much when it’s too long and lacks a compelling plot. To me, the power of the writing is compelling enough on its own. It’s not poetic writing, it’s crawl-inside-the-brain-of-a-character writing. I found it deeply absorbing and I think there will be young readers who will enjoy it as much as I did. Connor’s life is hockey and it becomes a framework through which we explore the meaning of life. ( )

Engaging story of Conor's year - as he advances in his hockey league, as he struggles to accept his family life - mom died awhile ago, stepmom has left, it's just his dad and himself, and figure out how to get ready for a step up in school. And then there's his beautiful faithful rescue dog Sinbad, who just happens to have developed a cancerous tumor. Worthy for any 6-9th grade readers, esp those who enjoy hockey! ( )

Its about sports (Hockey), pets (a doberman), family ( a single dad, estranged grand parents & an aunt) - its about growing up, taking responsibility, helping neighbors, chasing your dreams.... ( )

Twelve-year-old Conor plays hockey competitively, hoping to one day join the NHL. His single father, who was once a professional hockey player himself, wholeheartedly supports this, but it's a struggle for their small family to pay the expensive bills. Things get worse when Conor's beloved dog, Sinbad, is diagnosed with cancer and his chemo treatment will cost $7,000. Can Conor still achieve his hockey dreams if he has to devote so much time to caring for a sick Sinbad?

This book was not at all my cup of tea. I am not a sports fan, so a book that is 85-90% about hockey practice, hockey tryouts, hockey games, etc. is not compelling in my opinion. And, my experience is that kids who love sports want quickly-paced, short books -- not a 400-page clunker.

Reading about a dog getting treated for cancer is obviously not super fun either, but that actually turned out to be a much smaller part of the book than I expected based on the cover with a picture of Sinbad and the jacket description of the book. The family relations storylines could have been really interesting, but they are such a small part of the story and not really explored in depth ever.

The text is not particularly all that well-written either. For example, here's a passage that's indicative of much of the writing:
"We got outside and cross through the cold parking lot. Man, it's cold in Illinois! We drive toward the hotel. I keep hoping for a Mexican restaurant, but we don't see any, so we decide on a random Chinese place we see. We buy four different dishes and eat every bite. It's actually not that good, don't know why I ate so much!"
It's not exactly stellar writing. I know it's a book for children, but plenty of those have a better flow and style than that.

There's also several moments where things that I found rather questionable were mentioned briefly but not explored in detail: reading WikiLeaks, police shooting unarmed persons, the movie Gladiator (full of blood sport, rape, and murder), etc. There was also a really weird passage about how Conor thinks it's okay to sometimes just change his boxers instead of showering but it would be "disgusting" for girls to do this. What?

On the plus side, Conor does exhibit some rather positive traits like hard work, commitment to family, practice, being a good friend, and being a kind neighbor. Also, Conor is himself part Japanese and has friends/teammates of non-white races. So there is a bit of diversity being shown.

However, those few redeeming qualities are not enough to carry this book. On the whole, it felt like it was floating along never really building up to anything and the end just seemed to be there without any real conclusion. ( )

In life, a person can be very courageous and should work hard to achieve goals that are set no matter what life throws at you. An example of this is in the book Checked by Cynthia Kadohata, where eleven-year-old Conor has three important things in his world: his dad, his dog, and hockey. When his dad starts feeling depressed and his dog has cancer, Conor works even harder to achieve his hockey goals. After their house burns on fire, they move to live in another state. Conor’s aunt accepts them and Conor’s dad later gets divorced from his mother. I believe that this book is a great read because Conor's concern about his father's work as a cop adds dimension to the story, and there's plenty of hockey action and details throughout the book. It's pleasing to see a protagonist who represents a lot of young kids, especially those dreaming of victory in hockey so that these kids will see themselves in Conor. However, the book has very simple vocabulary and the plot is not well-rounded and sometimes the author conveys the information in a way that might be confusing to some readers. The plot is very straightforward and does not interest many that don’t like this genre. Overall, this was a negative read, since many parts of the book were very poorly done and if you don’t understand hockey, you wouldn’t be able to understand parts of the book. My recommendation is for grades 4-6 to read this book and only if you know hockey, since understanding a book can be very difficult if you don’t know the topic, especially in this case. ( )