Mia Hamm: Soccer Star (Robbie Reader Series)

Children's Literature

These short "Robbie Reader" biographies are packed with full-color, full-action photographs, an added appeal to their intended audience — young people who are not reading well or easily. They are chapter books that highlight interesting details that can apply to the young reader as well — Mia Hamm running in the park very early one morning during her college years, when she was already a star soccer player. Her coach wrote her a letter saying "winners are people who work the hardest when no one else is watching them." For young Mia, there were pluses and minuses to being the daughter of an air force colonel; a plus was moving to Italy, where she learned to play and love soccer. She was very close to her older brother Garrett and when he died of a blood disease as a young adult, she created the Mia Hamm Foundation to study diseases of the blood. There are plenty of details about winning games, from childhood and college through professional and Olympic teams, and the chronology comes right up to the 2004 Olympic games. There is a short but useful list of additional resources as well as an index. This biography will hold the interest of readers of any ability and it is easy to use for early research reports. 2004, Mitchell Lane, Ages 7 to 10.
—Karen Leggett