Nominated for the 1995 Silver Birch Award, Shabash! sensitively explores the differences which unite and divide, and the prejudices within, and against, minority communities. Rana wants to play hockey, but when he tries to sign up for the local minor league team, there seems to be a problem. Rana's cold reception gives him the distinct impression that he is not wanted by the other players or their parents. As a Sikh living in a small mill town in the interior of British Columbia in 1980, Rana knows he is "different", in fact he is the first Sikh in Dinway to join the hockey team. But what started as a whim becomes a determined struggle and so Rana persists, making the team, and meeting Les who becomes a new friend. But the small jibes from his teammates and the community members continue. Finally, just before the most important game of the season, an extraordinary event interrupts the lives of everyone in the community. Rana explodes in anger and risks his membership.

5.25 X 8.25 Trade paperback 120 pp ISBN 0-88878-355-8 $8.95 CDN $5.95 US