The Winners

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"Over the course of two weeks, everything in Beartown will change. Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich, two young people who left in search of a life far from the forest town, come home and joyfully reunite with their closest childhood friends. There is a sense of potimism an purpose in the town, embodied in the impressive new ice rink that has been built down by the lake. Seemingly overnight, the destruction caused by a ferocius late-summer storn re-ignites the old rivalry between Beartown and the neighboring town of Hed, a rivalry that has always been fought through their ice hocky teams. Simmering tensions between the towns turn into acts of intimidation and then violence. All the while, a fourteen-year-old boy grows increasingly alienated from this hockey-obsessed community, and he becomes determined to take revenge on the people he holds responsible for a family tragedy. As it beautifully captures all the complexities of daily life and explores questions of friendship, loyalty, loss, and identity, this emotion-packed novel asks us to reconsider what it means to win, what it means to lose, and what it means to forgive."--Back cover.