'I play for North Star Galaxy and this is the story of our first season. I don't know how it's going to end - but I hope it will be at the World Cup Finals this summer! I'm going to tell you everything that happens - the truth - however painful that might be.' Charlie loves football. He watches it, memorizes facts about it, and he's even the captain of the local youth team, North Star Galaxy. When Charlie discovers that youth teams are being selected to play in exhibition matches at the World Cup tournament later that year he decides to enter North Star. There's one problem. He's got to prove that North Star deserve a place at the tournament and that's not easy when your team are kind of rubbish at football! This book takes the form of Charlie's competition entry for his team to play a warm-up match at the World Cup - it's crammed with hilarious doodles, true facts, and match reports, and is totally accessible for boys, girls, reluctant readers, and footie-mad kids everywhere!
Abandoning childhood plans to be an astronaut, Dave Cousins went to art college in Bradford, joined a band and moved to London. He spent the next ten years touring and recording, and was nearly famous. Dave's writing career began aged ten, penning lyrics for an imaginary pop group. He has been scribbling songs, poems and stories ever since. His debut novel for teenagers, 15 Days Witout My Head was a Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week, a winner of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Undiscovered Voices, and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. A member of author collective The Edge, Dave spends his days at scholls and libraries meeting readers, or at his desk in the attic making up stories. Keep up to date with Dave by visiting his website (www.davecousins.net)
Title: Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends, and Football
Author: Cousins, Dave
ISBN: 9780192736598
Binding:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 2014-05-01
Number of Pages: 224
Weight: 0.2405 kg
Got a young football fan who struggles to engage in books? Give him, or her, this and things may well change! * Parents in Touch *
A must-read for all young football fans * Parents in Touch *
There are so many good things to say about this book! The illustrations make the characters' personalities come to life, and the variety of styles used to tell the story make for wonderful little surprises with every turn of the page. * Bridget Hamlet, The School Librarian Journal *
Sure to get boys, girls and football mad kids reading in the run up to the world cup! * Shoot website *
A terrifically fun read from Dave Cousins which any young football fan will love. * Waterstones website *
The characters had a lot of depth, the storyline was interesting enough for me to like it, even though Football really isn't my thing... * Novak, Spider blog *
Since I know very little about football, I particularly enjoyed the match report sheets and the little fact boxes peppered throughout the novel ... The humour is genuine and not patronising, which will hopefully launch this into the territory of Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates. * The School Librarian *
'No footie-mad child will want to miss out on this all-action, fun and frantic story... perfectly football-pitched for sporty kids and reluctant readers' * Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Evening Post *
'Football fans, and even those who aren't, will be delighted by Dave Cousins' Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends, and Footballs' * Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian *