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Topic: Football

Non-fiction

An absorbing gift for avid football fans aged 7+ years, perfect for the next David Beckham. Kick off your footballing journey and see the world in a whole new light!

Discover fascinating facts and stats – from record-breaking goals to famous football mascots – and learn about the funny and extraordinary moments that make football such a beautiful game.

This unbelievable round-the-world adventure is a celebration of the beautiful game that will take you through all of the planet’s continents. And the illustrated maps feature key aspects, such as borders, capital cities and major rivers, combined with amazing football facts – perfect for engaging young readers and football fans.

Non-fiction

Dive into the world of football with this mega book of everything to do with the beautiful game. Learn all the lingo; meet the greatest players, managers and teams from both the men’s and women’s games; take masterclasses with the pros; wander through the haircut hall of fame; learn the most iconic goal celebrations and more.

Written by the team at MUNDIAL, the celebrated football lifestyle magazine, and filled with fun, colourful illustrations, The Big Book of Football by Mundial covers it all:
The basics and the lingo that will have you talking like a football expert in no time.
History of football , including how we got from playing with a ball made of feathers to using high-tech footballs, the greatest teams of all time and the evolution of football boots.
The great players , including Paolo Maldini, Lev Yashin, Joy Fawcett, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Michelle Akers, Sir Stanley Matthews and Marta Vieira da Silva.
Legendary managers and how they did it – learn the favourite killer formations of greats like Rinus Michels and Sir Alex Ferguson.
The big cups , with their histories and greatest players.
The world’s most amazing stadiums , including Wembley, Melbourne Cricket Ground and San Siro.
Kits hall of fame , from the USSR’s (now Russia) classic red sweatshirt with ‘CCCP’ written across the front to Mexico’s green home shirt with Aztec patterns and the giant face of the Aztec god of death.
How to take the perfect shot like Ji So-yun, take the perfect set piece like David Beckham, take penalties like Matt Le Tissier, beat the offside trap like Fernando Torres, do the perfect attacking header like Didier Drogba and more.
Weird and wonderful , from the way we describe things that happen in the game (a fox in the box) to the way we celebrate a goal (by pretending to be a robot) or do our hair (shaving it all off except for a triangle at the front).
The culture and people surrounding the game, from traditional pre-game food to the referee, commentator and all-important crowd.
This great big book is your essential guide to the wonderful world of football.

Poetry

A funny collection of football poems by Brian Bilston, the unofficial Poet Laureate of Twitter. Perfect for football fans of all ages – from the young footie fanatic to a been-to-every-game-grandma, and every ‘I could’ve been a pro’ in between.

Full of poems that will make you giggle about all things football, including being left out of the World Cup squad, mum’s opinion on Messi vs Ronaldo, or those unmissable fixtures:

I’d love nothing more than to go outside
and spend time with Mother Nature.
But what can I do? It’s out of my hands:
Nigeria are playing Croatia

50 Ways to Score a Goal and Other Football Poems includes witty chants, a haiku or two, and fun shape poems about the beautiful game. Laugh together through the Euros or Premier League games, and swap the half-time pundits for puns!

Chapter book

A relatable, inclusive story about families, unlikely friendships and girl power.

Ola! I’m Jasmina Santos-Campbell (but you can call me Jaz). You’ve probably heard of me and my football team the Bramrock Stars before. No? Well, you will soon because we’re almost famous!

Forming the Stars was my genius idea – you see I need to prove to Mae (that’s my mum!) that I’m a football star so she’ll want to come back home.

The idea was the easy part, though. Now I’ve got a team of seven very different girls and we need to work together, to be taken seriously as footballers.

We are the DREAM TEAM and we’re going to show the world that girls CAN play football!

Chapter book

Danny is obsessed with two things: football – especially City Football Club – and investigating crimes. So when England and City footballing hero Sam Roberts is reported missing the day after Danny saw him being taken, blindfolded, into the bowels of the City FC stadium late at night, he’s determined to get to the bottom of it. But is Danny getting into something he can’t handle?

As well as being a huge football fan, Tom Palmer has an international reputation in reader development. He is a coordinator of the Reading Partners consortium, works with The Reading Agency, Booktrust and the National Literacy Trust, and has been the official writer for the Premier League Reading Stars scheme for five years. He is the author of the Football Detective series, also for Puffin Books. Tom lives in West Yorkshire with his wife and daughter.

Chapter book

It’s the proudest moment of Jack’s life – his debut as a professional footballer. Now he has a chance to achieve his dream of playing for his country. But it’s 1914 and the world is at war. Talk of sportsmen’s cowardice leads to the formation of a Footballers’ Battalion and Jack has little choice but to join up. The promise of a Cup in Flanders offers a glimmer of hope, but Jack and his teammates will have to survive a waking nightmare if they are ever to play again. A stunning new edition of Tom Palmer’s bestselling novel based on the true story of WWI war hero and footballing legend Jack Cock.

Chapter book

Winner of the Branford Boase Award.

Budi’s plan is simple. He’s going to be a star.

Budi’s going to play for the greatest team on earth, instead of sweating over each stitch he sews, each football boot he makes.

But one unlucky kick brings Budi’s world crashing down. Now he owes the Dragon, the most dangerous man in Jakarta. Soon it isn’t only Budi’s dreams at stake, but his life.

A story about dreaming big, about hope and heroes, and never letting anything stand in your way.

Picturebook

Five easy to move sliders, a rhyming story and lots to spot and say in this series of bright, interactive board books for toddlers!

Bizzy Bear is a football player today and it’s time for the big game! Help him make passes to his teammates and score goals! A funny little story with loads of details to spot and chat about.

This story needs YOU! By pushing, pulling and turning the mechanisms, little hands can move the story onto the next scene and bring the rhyming text to life! The high level of interaction builds confidence and engagement with books, which is a key stepping-stone to reading for toddlers.

Illustrated by multi-award-winning Benji Davies, illustrator of The Storm Whale, and Grandad’s Island.

Picturebook

It’s a lovely day and Spot and his friends are ready to play football together.

Spot and Helen are captains of the red and blue teams, but who will score the most goals?
Join the group of animal friends and the much-loved Spot as they learn it’s the taking part that counts – and, most importantly, have fun.

Picturebook

Topsy and Tim are always finding fun adventures in the real world, and this story is reassuring for young children having first experiences of their own.

Topsy and Tim join the local football club. Along with their friends, they practice their skills, including dribbling a ball around cones. Then they play a proper game. It’s so much fun that Topsy and Tim want to play football every day! Children who are starting to be interested in football will love to read about all the details of the club.

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