SPLINTERS

Hockey is Cindy Winters's love, and she's very good at it. Her parents are too poor to pay league fees, but Cindy does odd jobs to earn the money. Her mother's old equipment, though, makes her a laughingstock to the Blister Sisters, whose mother is the coach! When the all-star tryouts are held, led by the famed Charmaine Prince, the Blisters make sure Cindy can't be there. But her Fairy Goaltender appears, outfits her in white and gold, sends her off to the competition in a Zamboni and exhorts her to be off the ice when the final buzzer sounds. Cindy works brilliantly, but she is caught at the final buzzer with only one shiny skate. Sylvester's puckish (sorry) take on the Cinderella story is reflected in squiggly, exaggerated watercolor-and-ink pictures. Most of them float on the page as if on the ice, and this works wonderfully, from Cindy's parents' frozen basement apartment to the wide rink. The Fairy Goaltender, by the way, works her magic by whacking Cindy across the legs with her magic hockey stick. Goal! (Picture book. 5-9)