I live in a house where football is a way of life. My husband and I first met on an online football forum. He has a season ticket at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane (as I did too, until we had our son and it became difficult to juggle childcare). We watch a ridiculous amount of football on TV-not just the big Premiership matches-anything going. So perhaps it isn't surprising that our son Zachary, who is now six, has developed a minor obsession with the game.
Zachary is a competent reader (reading age of 8/9) and read The Story of the World Cup independently. He loved the bright, detailed illustrations and the comic book style, and adored the facts he learnt as he read. Out of nowhere he was asking me if I knew about Pele, or if I could tell him about the stadiums where previous World Cup Finals had been played. Children (especially boys) seem to love facts, and this book is chock full of them-about the origins of the beautiful game, the Jules Rimet trophy and previous World Cup tournaments, winners and notable players.
This would be an excellent book for primary school teachers to use to support a topic on The World Cup. It might also be suitable to encourage reluctant boy readers. Although girls can be football fanatics too, as I can attest!
I have looked for more books by Richard Brassey since reading The Story of the World Cup, as it was a fantastic non-fiction text for children-visually appealing and with enough detail to make it interesting without being too weighty.
Zachary says 'It's amazing! It tells you all about when the trophy was stolen'.
The Story of the World Cup is a winner in our house.
The Story of the World Cup is out now, published by Orion.
9/10
With thanks to the publisher who provided me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
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