The Dream Team: Jaz Santos vs. the World (The Dream Team, 1)

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I've always loved attention, but at the moment, there's a teeny tiny chance I'm getting it for all the wrong reasons. It’s a fantastic story, showing kids they shouldn’t give up on their dreams, especially when they are discouraged by people with outdated ideas on what girls and boys can and can’t do. It also gives a realistic portrayal of a family breakdown through the eyes of a child. Jaz blames herself for the break up and tries her best to fix her family before eventually realising it isn’t her fault. I appreciated how the author didn’t have Jaz’s mum come home for the sake of a happy ending. The chapters are short with minimal illustrations. Do Goalkeepers Wear Tiaras? is the first in the Girls FC series, readers can follow the team through their wins and losses. The Football Boy Wonder by Martin Smith

Jaz is a wonderful character, she is a passionate, determined, brave kid with a huge heart. The football team she forms is also full of amazing characters and I cannot wait to read more from The Dream Team series. The plot overall was a pretty standard sports fiction plot, with the addition of some other themes, but I don't think they were handled particularly well. The pacing was a bit strange, because the 'non sports' themes were scattered around, without an organic feel to them. Again, as I believe this was a debut, there's room for improvement and I hope the author focuses on developing her future plots in a more cohesive way. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.Hi! I'm Charligh, and one day I'm going to be a big star. I'm full of PIZZAZZ after all, and everyone I've ever met tells me I'm unforgettable. In a good way, I think . . . Bundi spends his days repetitively sewing football boots, but his dream is to one day play for the greatest team on earth, Real Madrid. This dream is looking further and further away as he leaves himself indebted to Dragon, the most dangerous man in Jakarta. By presenting complex concepts like mutual aid and self-organisation in much simpler terms that are relatable to children, Mante highlights the importance of community in a world that attempts to deny women and girls opportunities. Another inspirational tournament is the lesser known Homeless World Cup. I attended the last one in 2016 that Scotland hosted. For one week, Glasgow’s George Square was transformed into a stadium for the 512 players from 52 countries and 80,000 spectators. Each player had an empowering story of how street football had served as a positive focus to help them break patterns of addiction and build better lives. The tournament also promotes empathy and respect for homeless people and develop understanding for the reasons behind it.

In the midst of this, I loved the way Jaz's family life was handled. Many kids have Jaz's experience of two parents who love their kids but don't always get along. It will surely encourage children that they don't need to blame themselves for their parents' disagreements. Jaz Santos is the first in the Dream Team series- what can we hope to see from the rest of the series?This timely and heart-warming story about teamwork, self-belief and following your passions in the face of life’s up and downs is likely to score big with readers aged 8-11. For debut author Priscilla Mante, football is more than a game. In this article, Priscilla writes about how football can be a powerful tool to help people understand and develop mutual understanding and respect. Jaz Santos vs the World is the first in a new series about a girl who gathers an unlikely group of friends together to make their own girls football team. This is an inclusive and empowering tale with a real-life feel that will appeal to fans of Cath Howe and Jacqueline Wilson. I don’t really have a routine, and I tend to write wherever I can, whether it’s my bed or my small desk which I put up in my living room. For me, it’s more important that wherever I work is quiet and uncluttered because I can be easily distracted. Although I haven’t played much football since my teen years, I still believe there’s something so special about how the world’s most popular sport brings people together from different corners of society and the world, and fosters a sense of community.

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As far as the characters are concerned, they were nice. Not my all times favourites, as I didn't really vibe with the MC and she was narrating everything, but nice nonetheless. What didn't work so well for me (but these are minor): some clumsy similes, not going into enough detail earlier on to explain why the other girls get into football or how they become any good at it, an ending that was a little too neat and sweet, the rather obvious underdog sports plot, some other MG tropes. If you've got a little one who wants to do nothing other than play football or watch football perhaps you can coax them towards a third option: reading about it. With that in mind, we've gathered a selection of the best football books for 9 year olds to keep young fans entertained between matches. Sophie failed to engage much with this book, although she struggles to tell you exactly why. The story itself is pleasant enough, and there are some great, age-appropriate explorations of sexism—such as Jaz’s school giving all their sports budget to the boys’ team with nothing for the girls, the boys’ coach refusing to help train the girls, and the boys themselves not wanting to share training spaces. However, the story didn’t feel especially memorable, the levels of serendipity are overwhelming even for a middle-grade, and the majority of the characters (excluding Jaz herself) were two-dimensional at best. This is the first in a series with other books set to explore different members of the team, so Sophie hopes these future installments will help fix that particular issue.