Keeper

Solid 3 1/2. Reading with an ELL group now and it's generating good discussion! Definitely elevated above a normal sports tale, and with Mal Peet I would expect nothing less. Like the figurative language (great for parsing) and ghost/environmental storyline. The other characters were pretty stock and could have been better developed, but the central story is a compelling one.

It's a 1001 book and I found an ebook of it available—there's no other reason I decided to read it today. I knew it was about soccer, and I honestly can't think of something I like to read about less than sports.

But it is a 1001 book. And it was available today. And it is short. So I plunged in.

And...I liked it. I liked it a lot.

It's the story of a boy who lives with his family in the South American jungle who learns how to play soccer from a mysterious figure in the wild. The boy is good, so good that he is recruited to play pro soccer and eventually wins the World Cup. This book is an interview between the boy, now thirty, and a sports reporter.

I found myself (me, a person who knows almost nothing about soccer) fascinated with the story of the boy, his family, soccer, the mysterious coach. I can't wait to share it with a person out there who actually likes sports (!)