January is National Skating Month which focuses on getting families to try ice skating for the first time. So in honor of National Skating Month, let’s look at some books from the Chatham Area Public Library that center around ice skating.
These adult fiction books, ranging from murder to romance, all take place on the ice. Skating on Thin Ice by Jessica Fletcher (and Donald Bain) is a “Murder She Wrote” novel. This cozy mystery comes with all the intrigue, but none of the gore. Olympic pairs figure skating hopefuls, Christine Allen and up-and-coming Alexei Olshansky, are training under the tutelage of a former gold medalist. When a series of mysterious “accidents” occur, leading to a death of one of the skaters, Jessica Fletcher suspects someone is getting away with murder. J.D. Robb’s Apprentice in Death is a more grisly book. In a futuristic world, Eve Dallas must find a long-distance serial killer after three deaths at Central Park’s ice skating rink shake the city. Skating the Line by Stephanie Kay is a romance book set in California. Free-spirit Amanda gets called home for a family emergency and now has been there for 18 stifling months. Then she meets Ben Chester, the stoic captain of a hockey team who’s focusing on the game and career that he loves. Ben knows they are wrong for each other, no matter how good she feels in his arms. He likes skating in the lines. But Amanda can't even see them. This Young Adult novel, Even If I Fall by Abigail Johnson, is the story of Brooke, who lost everything when her beloved older brother confessed to the murder of his best friend, Calvin. Brooke and her family have become social pariahs; her only solace is the ice skating rink where she works, though she’s stopped dreaming about skating professionally. Then Brooke has a chance encounter with Calvin’s brother, Heath, and learns that they both need someone to talk to.
These children’s books will cultivate some appreciation for the cold months ahead. Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed tells of the first ice, a thin layer on a bucket of water, through thickly-iced fields and streams. A girl and her family and friends anticipate and enjoy a winter of skating. The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden is based on a true story during World War II. In the Netherlands, a ten-year-old boy’s dream of skating in a famous race allows him to help two children escape to Belgium by ice skating past German soldiers and other enemies. In Bunnies on Ice by Johanna Wright, a confident and determined young rabbit demonstrates how to be a champion ice skater.
If you can’t get to a rink, you can still celebrate the thrill of ice skating by picking up a book. All these and many more are available from the Chatham Area Public Library either as print books or as ebooks.