Book Review & Giveaway!!! The Wild Soccer Bunch: Kevin, the Star Striker

The Wild Soccer Bunch: Kevin, the Star Striker

* About the Author: Joachim Masannek was the coach of a kids' soccer team, which inspired his creation of The Wild Soccer Bunch. His mission is to encourage children worldwide to live by their values they learn by playing the game of soccer: courage, teamwork, and friendship. He presently lives in Munich with his beloved sons, Leon and Marlon.

* About the Illustrator: Jan Birck has earned his reputation as one of the world's finest illustrators of children's books, with drawings that have appeared in hundreds of publications. He presently lives in Munich with his wife and sons, Timo and Finn.

* About The Wild Soccer Bunch Series:

Meet The Wild Soccer Bunch -- eleven boys and a girl, bonded by their passion and love for the game of soccer. Twelve kids, twelve extraordinary personalities, one wild team. The Wild Soccer Bunch plays their beloved game according to five unbreakable rules:

1. BE WILD!
2. EVERYTHING'S COOL, AS LONG AS YOU'RE WILD!
3. NEVER, EVER GIVE UP!
4. ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE!
5. ONCE WILD, ALWAYS WILD!

Each book in the series is narrated by a unique Wild Soccer Bunch team member, offering his/her perspective. This first book in the series stars Kevin, the leader of The Wild Soccer Bunch. "He scores goals like Cristiano Ronaldo, hassles in the pitch like Wayne Rooney and handles the ball with breathtaking precision like Landon Donovan. His specialty: the bicycle kick. He is afraid of nothing, and will do everything to win."

The series has also been a tremendous success overseas with over 9 million copies sold in Europe!

* Recommended reading level: Ages 8-14

* My take on the book:

Although I don't have a child old enough to read yet, I still agreed to review a copy of this book. I'm a huge soccer fan myself, but I really wanted to do the review since there might be some dads out there with kids who have a new-found interest in soccer, thanks to the recent World Cup.

However, after reading this book, I don't think your child has to be a soccer fan at all. This was an excellent read and I think any child from 7-12 will enjoy this book immensely!

The main storyline is that the 'Wild Soccer Bunch' is a group of kids who obsess over soccer. They live in Chicago and are about to go on spring break from school, but are facing the fact that winter is stubbornly hanging on. While trying to wish away winter, the kids also get in trouble with their parents and are all grounded. When spring break finally arrives and the kids are able to get to "their" soccer field, a group of older and tougher boys (called 'The Unbeatables') are already there and tell the 'Wild Soccer Bunch' to leave. Kevin gets brave and stands up to the bullies, challenging them to a soccer match in two weeks, and whoever wins gets the field. The 'Bunch' has two weeks to practice but face many challenges over that time centering around the themes of teamwork, friendship, determination and diversity.

Like I mentioned earlier, I don't believe being a soccer fan is a requisite for enjoying the book. I think kids will relate with the characters and storylines in the book. Kids will find the book funny and also a quick read. There are a few serious themes in the book. The boys, in their desire to play soccer, can often be dishonest to their parents. The adult who agrees to coach the kids is an alcoholic and one of the kids is homeless and living out of his mother's van. I think it's also apparent to adult readers that the boy's mother is a prostitute. Younger children might not catch this, but some older readers could. Instead of dismissing the book for these elements, I sincerely hope parents will take these themes in the story as an opportunity to have real discussions with their child. These things are all part of life and ignoring them or dismissing them will not make them go away.

I was really impressed with this book, and since the the series has thirteen books total, my last comment would be to get prepared to be asked by your child for the next book in the series as they each get released.

Giveaway:

I'm giving away my review copy of "The Wild Soccer Bunch." If you'd like to win this copy, just leave a comment to this post.

For additional entries (leave a separate comment for each):

* Follow @book_dads on Twitter (leave username in comment)

* Leave a comment about this giveaway/review on our Facebook page

* Subscribe to Book Dads via RSS or e-mail.

The contest will close at midnight EST on July 27th. Winners are chosen at random, if you want all your chances counted, make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one! Winners have 48 hours to respond to my message to them. If they do not, another winner will be selected.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the publisher. Please refer to this site’s Disclosure Policy for more information.