#1202 – Let’s Play Soccer! by Giuliano Ferri

Let’s Play Soccer!
Written and Illustrated by Giuliano Ferri
6,6” x 6,6”
Michael Neugebauer Edition 10/1/2019
978-988-8341-85-6
14 Pages Ages 2—5

Genre: Children’s Board Book
Themes: Soccer, Die-cut, Animals

Synopsis

This lively board book features soccer-playing animals. Told with a simple text, it reads in the form of a sportscast and is full of both action words and animal names. Die cuts on every page keep the ball in the game. It’s the perfect little book for young readers who love to play! (from publisher)

Opening Lines

The game begins. Hedgehog throws the ball.

Why I like this book

Let’s Play Soccer is a cute board book for young children who like sports or kicking around a soccer ball. One sentence per spread, the story gives the sense of a sportscaster calling the soccer match between a team of small, but competitive, furry animals versus a team of large, but easily defeated, vicious carnivores. The round die-cut hole, on the left side of each spread, keeps the small team in view; changing characters with only a change of ears, as the face remains the same (they wear the same uniform). On the right-sdide of the spread, the die-cut hole is the soccer ball.

At goalie, Hedgehog tosses out the ball to start the game. Rabbit takes control, kicking it downfield, past angry-looking Crocodile! Cat catches the hopping ball with her head and head-bumps it over ferocious Lion!

Dog flies through the air! He kicks the ball over Wolf’s head. Bear grabs the ball, passing it through stunned Dinosaur’s leg, which is immediately kicked by Rabbit—GOAL!

There you have it. The game is over. The huge carnivore team goes down in defeat to the victorious, cute, and furry little animals–GOAL! (My interpretation.)

The illustrations are adorable. Two sets of animals pair against their more wild kin: Cat and Lion, Dog and Wolf. The larger team—Carnivorous players—have faces one expects to find on a losing team: frustration, anger, confused, surprised. Our team—the cute, furry animals—all have the same team-approved smile upon their faces (as each has the same face, with mainly the ears changing).

Young children will love the fast-paced game, especially when read by an enthusiastic parent. Thanks to the thick die-cut circle, pages are easy to turn with little fingers. Pages have a glossy finish making them easy to clean off spilled jelly or other gooey substance without harming the page. Even with its 14 pages, Let’s Play Soccer is a thin board book children will have no trouble holding or carrying around to the next “sportscaster/reader.”

Young children will love listening to this soccer match. Soon enough, they will be “reading Let’s Play Soccer to themselves, changing the dialogue as their imagination demands.

Favorite Line