Liked the illistrations and the soccer instructions. Good read with kids. Great way to explain the game and helps everyone with rules of play. Would recommend.

A fun and in depth look at football that breaks all the rules down in easy to read bite sized chapters.

My First Book of Soccer, from the editors of Sports Illustrated for Kids, is a surprisingly comprehensive guide to the sometimes-confusing game of soccer, or football. With full color photographs of real soccer players on each page accompanied by small cartoon illustrations of “rookie” players, the layout is colorful, simple and perfect for young readers. Children and adults unfamiliar with the game are certain to find this book educational and entertaining as they learn the different positions, terms and layout of the field. With thought and speech bubbles throughout, children will find the corny jokes more humorous than adults.
This is both a good read aloud text for non-readers as well as an engaging read for independent readers. Highly recommended for anyone young or old interested in learning the basics of the game of soccer in a straightforward and fun way.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book. I loved it! I have five kids ages 3 1/2 to 13, and they all enjoyed the book.

My First Book of Soccer is a funny, fact-filled picture about the rules of soccer. It explains different types of players and plays using real photographs and funny comments that keep the book enjoyable. This would be useful to beginning soccer players from preschool to fourth or fifth grade. Even bigger kids would enjoy this and it makes understanding the game very easy. Great way to teach about a sport!

The First Book of Soccer: Mostly Everything Explained About the Game is written by the editors of Sports Illustrated Kids, and it's the forth book in the Rookie Book series.

This book introduces and explains about the world-famous game of soccer (also known as football). Readers will learn all about soccer through a mix of photographs, graphics, informative text, and funny comments.

The First Book of Soccer is a delightful forty-eight page book, and it's ideal for both girls and boys interested in soccer.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Using photos of real pro soccer players with added speech bubbles, two cartoon kid characters, and a pro game scenario, the book explains all the rules of soccer.

Using photos of real pro soccer players with added speech bubbles, two cartoon kid characters, and a pro game scenario, the book explains all the rules of soccer.

This does a good job of covering most of the basics of soccer from terms to player positions to rules, and even includes some trickier rules like off sides and when it’s a corner kick versus a goalie kick. The combination of real photos with added speech bubbles (usually saying humorous things that fit the situation described) should be a hit with kids. It’s an attractive layout. Every other page alternates between guys playing and girls playing, so the book would be good for all kids. The only qualm I had with the book was the way it is presented. Picking up a book with this title, I was expecting the book to introduce young potential players to the game. But that doesn’t seem to be the focus. The book just states that there’s always eleven players per team on the field (when often youth leagues play with just seven), and that there are two 45 min halves (most kids and teens play shorter games than that). So the book seems aimed at prepping kids to better understand watching pro soccer than playing soccer themselves. It also does no introduction of cleats, shin guards, or other soccer gear. Perhaps a better title would have been My First Book of Soccer for Fans. Of course, learning the rules would certainly help prepare young players, but some of the details will be a tad different. Soccer is hands down the most popular sport in our area of the world, so I’m sure our elementary library will consider adding this title.

This was a really fun way to learn about soccer. The information is right on and easy to understand. What sets this book apart from others is the narrator's, and the comments. This book uses a combination of animated kids who ask questions and make comments, and real life soccer players (only named on their jerseys) with speech bubbles. The players say things like “don't trip” “hope she stubbed her toes” etc. It's fun. I hope there are more in the series, but I also want a little more information about the players exchanging shirts. Why do they do that?.

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There is so much to love about this book, bright colours and the clever use of photos and cartoon pictures that make learning about a sport so much fun. I learnt so much about soccer/football from reading this book, and the information is not only great for children, but also for a parent whose child is just starting out.
I appreciate that that both women and men, and various cultures have been included in this book. It is an honest representative of the sport.
I got a good understanding of soccer/football terms such as header, corner kick, shot, save, wall, red card, offside and substitution. The way that the author has written the definitions into the book has been done so seamlessly, they just flow into the text.
The two cartoon characters are both adorable and funny, and make what could be just an information book into something more of an easy to read book. My only disappointment with the book is one bit of bad sportsmanship when one of the players has a speech bubble saying that she hopes she stubs her toe. I felt this was unnecessary.
The use of the clock in the corner of each page is a clever use of explaining how halves and time work in the game. Being a visual learner I particularly found this helpful and feel it is a smart way to teach children how this part of the game works.
The cartoon speech bubbles are quite fun. With words such as “I think it’s coming right toward me!”, “whew! Not coming toward me!”, “I can’t believe it went in”, and “Dribble? Here, take this bib.”
If you want to play soccer/football, or your child does then I recommend this book. It’s fun, factual and informative.

This is the fourth book in the "My First Book of..." series. It uses photographs of soccer players, cartoon drawings of a girl and boy, and speech bubbles to explain the sport of soccer in a easy to understand way. The photos are full-colour action shots of both men and women's soccer teams. Each page describes a particular part of the game, such as a position or a rule. Some of the commentary in the bubbles are cute jokes that will amuse the reader. A good book to use with a group of young children learning about soccer whether in a school for a physical education class or a community group.