Winning Ways in Soccer

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-- Writing in the voice of a young player, Grosshandler describes the basic rules of soccer in clear and simple vocabulary. She does an excellent job of dissecting the complex rule of ``offsides'' with a diagram and text. Young readers and their parents are sure to relate to statements about the difficulty of staying in position and other anecdotes about goalie mistakes. There are a few minor flaws. The opening sentence says that ``girls and boys ages five to eight, who want to learn how to play soccer, can join a soccer team'' is misleading, since some leagues admit children as young as four, and there is no upper age limit in the adult leagues. Although bright and colorful, several photos are not well focused. A supplemental purchase for collections that have Dickmeyer's Soccer Is for Me (Lerner, 1978; o.p.) or for those libraries that never seem to have enough soccer titles during the season. --Blair Christolon, Prince William Library, Manassas, VA