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Cool as Ice
11 year old Chris is small for his age, so he can't believe it when he learns he's been selected for the all-star hockey team. It's not fun and games playing for the Arctic Wolves, however, as Chris and his teammate, Derek, find out.
- GenresSports
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
467 books142 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 27, 2025
Small Chris has been figure skating for a while but finds it boring. Not wanting these skills to go to waste, he joins a hockey team and somehow becomes part of the travelling crew. A black kid named Derek does, too, and although he seemed to hate everyone at first he develops a bond shortly after with Chris on the ice, sending great shots to the opposite team's net. Together, they prove that size and race doesn't make a difference in hockey. I also like how Chris's female friend Lynne has a pet chicken. Must mean they're in a rural area.
September 30, 2014
The book "Cool as Ice" by Matt Christopher, was an interesting book about a small 11 year old named Chris, who is a figure skater, Chris wanted to play Town League Hockey, but when Chris tries out he stuns the coaches and ends up on a traveling hockey team. Then he meets his teammates, some he already knew but one kid stood out from the rest, everyone else on the team thought this kid just stood out because he was a different skin color than everyone else. But Chris thought that he was just shy. But that was not the case, he was a big boy and Chris and Derek became best friends. Read the book and fine out what happens in the end.
May 2, 2012
I thought it was a good book I really like it because it was about a kid who really wanted to play hockey but he was really small and his mom dident want him to get hurt. He starts out as a figure skater but then starts getting mad because everyone makes fun of him. He starts playing hockey and is really good at skating but has a hard time trying to stick handle. I think it is a good book but only if you like hockey and possibly all sports.
October 19, 2010
This book is a great story for any sports fan. Chris is a figure skater until his friend convinces him to try out for the town hockey league. But he finds out he is really good at hockey and he makes the traveling team. I think you should read this book because it's a great book! It's a great realistic fiction book.
August 19, 2013
It really bugs me when books start out with boys switching from figure skating to hockey and girls, vice versa. Yes I've seen this before.
I'm glad this one was framed as "I want a team" not "it's too girly" but it still gets under my skin.
I'm glad this one was framed as "I want a team" not "it's too girly" but it still gets under my skin.
March 30, 2016
The main character is Chris dad and mom
The life style is in a suburban life
Chris wants to play hockey but his mom won't let him she's afraid that he would get hurt then he calls his dad.
The reason why I rated this book 5 stars is because I love hockey.
The life style is in a suburban life
Chris wants to play hockey but his mom won't let him she's afraid that he would get hurt then he calls his dad.
The reason why I rated this book 5 stars is because I love hockey.
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December 24, 2013AR Quiz No. 48321 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 4.4 - AR Pts: 4.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 4.4 - AR Pts: 4.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP
February 7, 2012
Good book if you like hockey.
October 4, 2018
Was a good book. It was adventurous. and fun.
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October 10, 2018It was very good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews