Goal!: The Fire and Fury of Soccer's Greatest Moment (Spectacular Sports)

Stewart, Mark; Kennedy, Mike

3.5

16 ratings by Goodreads

9780822587545: Goal!: The Fire and Fury of Soccer's Greatest Moment (Spectacular Sports)

ISBN 10: 0822587548 ISBN 13: 9780822587545

Publisher: Millbrook Press ™, 2010

What goal caused the most legendary celebration in soccer history? Who invented the bicycle kick? Who was the first player to score 1,000 goals? Get the full story on scoring goals in soccer, from the earliest days to the present. This book is full of facts about the sport’s greatest goals and the women and men who scored them.

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About the Author:

Mark Stewart has authored more than 250 nonfiction books for the school and library market. He also has interviewed a diverse group of famous Americans in his role as a magazine writer and editor―including Arthur Ashe, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Peter Max, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Big Bird (aka Carroll Spinney), Darryl "Run–DMC" McDaniels, Mike Wallace, and Brian Williams. Mark comes from a publishing family. His grandfather was Sunday Editor of The New York Times, his father ran The New York Times Book Division, and his mother was Articles Editor for Ladies Home Journal and McCall's. Mark's web site, JockBio.com, features comprehensive biographies of hundreds of athletes, and attracts more than one million readers a year. Mark graduated from Duke University with a degree in History. He serves as Board Secretary for two National Historic Sites, including the Twin Lights near his home overlooking Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

Review:

"Following the same attractively designed format as the authors' Long Ball: The Legend and Lore of the Home RunSwish: The Quest for Basketball's Perfect Shot (2009), and Touchdown: The Power and Precision of Football's Perfect Play (2009), this well-written book explores the nuances of scoring in the world’s most popular sport. (2006), A quick history of the game lays the groundwork with details that may be new to even hard-core fans. The second chapter jumps right into the good stuff with descriptions of 10 of the most famous goals, just begging to be marveled over again and again on YouTube. Also included is a rundown of the best male and female scorers from the early twentieth century to the present and weird anomalies and amusing anecdotes from soccer lore. The records section is scanty, but that has more to do with the relatively statistics-free nature of the game. A strong choice to dovetail with the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but with plenty of staying power well beyond that."
--Booklist

(Journal)

"With a plethora of first-rate soccer books capitalizing on the anticipation of World Cup Soccer 2010 in June, Stewart and Kennedy have risen to the occasion. Covering the history of the sport as well as amazing, wild, and weird goals, they include a multitude of meaty, one-paragraph profiles of male and female stars and organize them chronologically from the late 1800s to the present. The writing is enhanced with historical photographs and reproductions of several players' soccer cards from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Readers will pick up tidbits of conversational facts such as how the phrase 'Bend it like Beckham' originated and how Pele helped to popularize soccer in the United States. The authors show a great respect for goalkeepers as well as the scorers throughout the narrative. Even though there are at least two new series of books published this spring, including Rosen's 'World Soccer' and Heinemann's 'World Cup,' a large amount of information is contained in this slim, engagingly readable book. Consider where one book will suffice, rather than a series."
--School Library Journal

(Journal)

"Though soccer has yet to catch on in this country in the way it has in the rest of the world, that doesn't mean that it isn't a popular sport--and likely to become even more so as the World Cup 2010 competition heats up this month.

That interest is certainly reflected in the rising flood of tales and informational titles being released. Here are some new and recent books (plus one or two classics) that are likely to score with young readers--and perhaps adults in need of quick refreshers on the game's rules and history.

History and Stars

. . .

STEWART, Mark. Goal! The Fire and Fury of Soccer's Greatest Moment. Millbrook, 2010. Gr 5-7--Stewart wraps a history of the game, bizarre incidents, record-setting achievements, and portraits of some of the game's greatest players around absorbing, high-tension accounts of 10 renowned goals.

Fiction on the Pitch

. . .

WHEELER, Lisa. Dino-Soccer. Illus by Barry Gottt. Carolrhoda, 2009.

Gr 1-3--It's prehistoric pandemonium when the vegetarian Grazers square off against the carnivorous Biters before stands filled with cheering dinos. Wheeler's fast and furious verse finds a perfect counterpart in Gott's richly colored scenes of jersey-clad creatures battling furiously for the ball--right down to the suspenseful final moments."
--School Library Journal (Journal)

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