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Topic: Arts and Sports

Picturebook

Harry’s football team are trying their best, but they just keep getting in each other’s way. But, luckily, Harry soon learns the best trick of all… teamwork! So together Harry, his friends and their mascotauruses win the best prize ever…

Picturebook

For anyone who can’t see a ball without wanting to kick it, head it, shoot it, or boot it!

‘Not eating an ice-cream
Or riding a bike
No – kicking a ball
Is what I like.’

‘What I like best, yes, most of all
in my whole life is . . . kicking a ball.

A wonderful rhyming story to read aloud, Kicking A Ball will not disappoint fans of Allan Ahlberg. First written as a poem, the little boy in the story has been brought to life perfectly by artist Sebastien Braun. Every parent will be able to immediately relate to the simple joy felt by a boy simply kicking a ball, and how there is nothing else quite like it.

The incomparable Allan Ahlberg takes us on a journey from childhood to fatherhood full of humour, warmth, friendship . . . and football.

Picturebook

Tiz and Ott are drawing themselves a house. With the scritch scratch of her crayon, Tiz busily plants some seeds for the garden. Meanwhile Ott lies back lazily and makes a huge splodge for the sun. Then Tiz has a big idea. With a zig, a zag and a crash, she jolts Ott awake with a huge bolt of lightning! Together Tiz and Ott whip up a storm but as they soon find out, a storm isn’t just lines on a page – Get carried away with Tiz and Ott as they use their imaginations to brush and doodle and scribble and scrawl and splatter their way out of trouble and safely back home.

Picturebook

Tom and his gran are playing penalty shoot-out when things go wrong and the football escapes… Now, wherever it leads them, from the park to the highstreet and beyond to the depths of the ocean and way up high in the sky, Tom and Gran must “Get that ball!”

Chapter book

Ridiculous injuries … strange illnesses … cancelled games … Everything’s going wrong for the Saints this season, and Stanley’s team-mates believe they finally know why. Their football kit is cursed! But the team’s attempts to break the curse take things from bad to worse. Soon, they’re ready to call it quits. Stanley’s still got some tricks up his sleeve … but will his curse-cracking ideas save the team in time for the last game of the season?

Chapter book

2-1 with minutes to go: Dale Juniors are about to win the schools’ cup final – until Scott foots the ball into his own team’s goal. But letting down the team is the least of Scott’s problems. After the match, someone leaves him a nasty message on the wall – and the suspect? His best mate Danny. It’s all going downhill from here. The drama of football and friendship take to the pitch in this action-packed sporting novel from top-selling author Paul Stewart. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 8+.

Non-fiction

Filled with quizzes, stats and little known facts, plus illustrated and told with all the fun of a Tom Gates novel, the Football Superstars series is perfect for young readers five and up.

Is Marcus Rashford your ultimate football hero? His rise to the top has already seen him win The FA Cup, EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League for Manchester United as well as become a semi-finalist at the FIFA 2018 World Cup.

Discover how the local kid got into Manchester United’s famous academy and worked hard to become part of its star-studded first team as well as an England international, plus the amazing way he called on the UK government to end child poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The Football Superstars series is aimed at building a love of reading from a young age, with fun cartoons, inspirational stories, a simple narrative style and a cast of characters chipping in with quotes, jokes and comments.

Non-fiction

An exciting, laugh-a-minute guide to every Olympic and Paralympic sport

From boxing to boccia, find out just what it takes to become an Olympic and Paralympic star in this hilariously informative guide to the games. For each sport you’ll discover why it’s great, why it’s not so great, what skills and equipment you’ll need to start practising and even how to sound like a pro! You’ll learn about some of the greatest Olympians in history, events that might appear in the future and there’s a helpful guide to your chances of becoming a champion.

With bold, energetic illustrations and a text packed with weird, wonderful and wildly hilarious facts written by former sports journalist Scott Allen, this gift book is the funniest guide you’ll find to the next Olympics!

Non-fictionPicturebook

This fun, dynamic book introduces children to the world of competitive sports! It covers some of the world’s most popular games, including football, tennis and volleyball. Packed with action flaps and simple facts, this book is perfect for curious minds.

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