Chris Kreie

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Recommended: For reluctant readers and ELL students, or for students in gr. 6-9 who love soccer.
Level: Middle/High School

Kamal and Rodrigo are best friends, on and off the soccer field. They are two of the best players on their team, but their skills aren't enough to secure a win. When new kid Justin shows up looking to play a sport in order to stay in shape for lacrosse, Kamal feels threatened. Justin appears to be a natural athlete, which frustrates Kamal. His jealousy comes out in full force when he learns that Rodrigo has been running soccer drills with Justin in order to help the guy out. Kamal has to decide whether he can put aside his jealousy for the good of the team or let his insecurities ruin everything.

Written for reluctant readers at a 590 Lexile level, this is a great book for my soccer-loving ELL students. It is not too long, with relatively short and simple sentences, but best of all, there is a LOT of soccer action. The drama between Kamal and Justin is a little over the top, but most kids will put up with that in order to get the soccer play-by-plays. There are five other books in this series, and I will be purchasing them as well.… (meer)

Josh is a pro at figure skating but wants to challenge himself more with hockey. At first he thinks that his super skating skills will make the challenge way easier, but he was wrong. Jorge Santillan is the illustrator for this book series and always seems to keep his drawing styles consistent for the most part. whenever he wants to show a character is spinning or moving fast, he draws several straight lines and curved ones to let us know what is going on in the pictures. I like this technique because it helps with the reader's visual experience.… (meer)

Children at my school LOVE graphic novels- especially the boys. I actually had never read a graphic novel until this book. I don’t care for it. The plot is very simple and there is a lot of sports vocabulary which I’m not into. The speech bubbles are also simple which makes them easier to read (I liked that part) . This book definitely focuses more on the illustrations more compared to other graphic novels that I have seen other students reading. The picture boxes are also larger which makes it more appealing and easier to navigate through the book. I did like that there are discussion questions at the end of the book, but I would not read this again.… (meer)