My First Book of Soccer

Sports Illustrated Kids: My First Book of Soccer by Beth Bugler & Mark Bechtel
Illustrated by Bill Hinds
Published by Liberty Street
Date: 16 May 2017

In just six days this book will be hitting shelves both virtual and within stores and there is so much to love about this book. Particularly, the bright colours and the clever use of photos, and the cartoon pictures that make learning about a sport so much fun. I learnt so much about soccer/football from reading this book, and the information is not only great for children, but also for a parent whose child is just starting out.

I appreciate that that both women and men, and people from various cultures have been included in this book. It is an honest representative of the sport.

I got a good understanding of soccer/football terms such as header, corner kick, shot, save, wall, red card, offside and substitution.  The way that the author has written the definitions into the book has been done so seamlessly, they just flow into the text.

The two cartoon characters are both adorable and funny, and make what could be just an information book into something more of an easy to read book. My only disappointment with the book is one bit of bad sportsmanship when one of the players has a speech bubble saying that she hopes she stubs her toe. I felt this was unnecessary.

The use of the clock in the corner of each page is a clever use of explaining how halves and time work in the game.  Being a visual learner I particularly found this helpful and feel it is a smart way to teach children how this part of the game works.

The cartoon speech bubbles are quite fun.  With words such as “I think it’s coming right toward me!”, “whew! Not coming toward me!”, “I can’t believe it went in”, and “Dribble? Here, take this bib.”

If you want to play soccer/football, or your child does then I recommend this book.  It’s fun, factual and informative.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.