
The Beautiful Game
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers · Hardcover · September 17, 2024
A powerful story about family, fútbol, and playing like a girl, perfect for fans of Front Desk, The Academy, and, Are You There, God?
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- Who it’s for
- A clean, spirited fit if you like sports fiction with a polished, page-moving feel.
- Genres
- Soccer Stories, Girls & Young Women, Growing Up
- Published
- Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, September 17, 2024
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Start with this bookAbout this book
A powerful story about family, fútbol, and playing like a girl, perfect for fans of Front Desk, The Academy, and, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret from the award-winning author of Furia. At twelve years old, Valeria "Magic" Salomón is already the best soccer player her town has ever seen. She has talent in spades and an abuelo whose tough-love coaching and lessons about “strength and honor” have made her the star of the Overlords, the top boys’ team in the state.
Continue reading
Then everything changes at the State Cup semifinal. After an embarrassing moment on the field, Valeria’s team is unexpectedly eliminated and everyone who used to treat her as their secret weapon now sees her as their weakest link. Soon, she doesn’t have a team at all anymore. She’s not sure she has a relationship with her grandfather either. Valeria’s a fighter, however. With the help of her grandmother and support of her cheerleader BFF, she finds herself on a girls’ team for the first time. But the Amazons aren’t exactly excited to have her there. After all, Valeria’s spent years ignoring their existence. With the next tournament looming on the horizon, Valeria has a month to figure out her place on her new team and learn how to play like a girl. The award-winning author of Furia returns to the world of “the beautiful game” in this uplifting, heartfelt novel about family, self-confidence, and the power of second chances.
Game Sense
A clean, spirited fit if you like sports fiction with a polished, page-moving feel.
Come here for
- soccer as lived-in atmosphere
- serious, performance-aware YA energy
Expect
- immersion over summary
- a sustained narrative read
Where it sits
| Soccer Stories | 99% |
|---|---|
| Growing Up | 52% |
| Girls & Young Women | 34% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Multigenerational Families
- Girls & Young Women
- Caribbean & Latin American Stories
- Soccer Stories
Show all 5 publisher categories
- Growing Up
- Authors
- Yamile Saied Méndez
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Published
- September 17, 2024
- Format
- Hardcover
- Reading lane
- Multigenerational Families