October 26th 2018 by Walker Books
US Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
"Coaches" Alex and Ben introduce the reader to their school that is all about soccer. Every class, from biology to business studies, deals with fun facts and information about how each topic pertains to soccer. My favorite part of the book was probably the two page spread detailing the schedule, which look NOTHING like a US middle school schedule! It is more like a college schedule, with two days of math and fun things like Design Technology, Zoology, Music, Photography, Fashion, and Business Studies! That makes the idea of Soccer School an amazing opportunity right there.
While the story line takes us through our school week, this is more a compendium of random information detailing just about every aspect of soccer. It is noteworthy that the entire first chapter, Biology, discusses all of the minute details of how professional soccer players (as well as race dogs) manage their BMs. The subsequent math chapter gives statistics on death on the soccer field! (Luckily, the chances are pretty low-- about a 1 in 200,000 chance.) This is followed by the zoology chapter that discusses different team mascots and gives a lot of information about eagles. While all of this is very informative, it doesn't seem to be all that pertinent to soccer!
While there are a lot of pictures illustrating different concepts, there is also a LOT of small text. There are side bars, quizzes, charts with statistics, and a lot of other facts as well as frequent cartoon panels illustrating concepts.
There are plenty of details about playing fields, crowd control, player salaries, and famous players. Readers who have moved beyond the short nonfiction soccer books about various teams and have read all of the how-to books on soccer will enjoy this fast-paced, random compilation of humorous anecdotes that even include space soccer.
October 26th 2018 by Walker Books US
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
In this second Soccer School book, the first chapter is about pee rather than poop (as the first book was)! This is actually a very important topic for young athletes, who often are not well hydrated. The U.S. Navy actually has a very helpful online chart concerning this:(https://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcsd/Pages/Care/HealthWellnessLearnArticlesPeeTellingYou.aspx). Soccer school talks about the benefits of water, effects of dehydration on the body's performance, and gives several anecdotes relating to urination. This might seem silly, but as a cross country coach, I spend much more time than I would like discussing this topic with my runners!
The book is again set up to mirror a school schedule with a lot of different topics. Soccer vocabulary in a variety of languages and countries, as well as multilingual soccer players, are discussed in Foreign Languages, and some funny phrases from around the world are described, complete with amusing drawings. Physics class discusses how the soccer ball is constructed and reacts to use, and Botany gives a primer on the different types of grasses used on fields. The authors really dig deep to come up with topics such as engineering, writing and reporting, and even religion. Who knew that there was a "Church of Maradona" that worships Argentine player Diego Maradona!
My favorite chapter was the History one, which discussed how women's involvement in the sport has changed since the founding of the British Ladies' Football Club in 1894. I would love to find an entire book on this topic, especially discussing the 1921 ban on women's teams using most stadiums! The quizzes at the end of each chapter even have a key available at the end of the book, so readers who really, really want to memorize their soccer facts can quiz themselves.
While the Notebook Novel style of this series will appeal to reluctant readers, Soccer School has an enormous wealth of facts about many facets relating to the sport. This is a great book to send with a die-hard fan to dip into again and again.
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