Roy of the Rovers – Play-offs

Tom Palmer's Roy of the Rovers Play-offs is a football story for 8 year olds about a teenage striker trying to save the club he's loved all his life.

What happens

Roy Race plays up front for Melchester Rovers, with his best mate Blackie Gray beside him. The older players were all let go earlier in the season. So the youth team became the first team overnight (the youngest professional side in Europe, no less).

Now they're one win away from the play-offs. And Roy's only just back from an ankle injury that kept him out for weeks.

The stakes are HUGE. Roy gets stuck in an empty dressing room and overhears the manager and coach talking. If Rovers don't go up, the ground goes to a developer and the club leaves Melchester for good.

The owner isn't much help. Barry Cleaver turns up at training in a Rolls Royce to say there's no money for hotels or bonuses. He doesn't even know which one of the lads is Paco!

And the squad is splitting down the middle. A newspaper says Paco is off to their city rivals, and the captain, Vic Guthrie, won't let it go. Can Roy keep them together without picking a side?

The match scenes fly by. Short punchy sentences, the score after every goal, the minutes ticking away. You don't need to be a football expert to feel your heart going.

There's lots off the pitch too, and some of it is very sweet. Roy's revising for his college exams because he made a deal with his mum. A Brazilian superstar called Hugo turns into an unlikely friend. And his sister Rocky has great fun teasing him about Ffion, the friend who's been helping him get fit (he goes bright red).

It's worth knowing that Roy's dad is seriously ill. An operation on a brain tumour went wrong and left him paralysed down one side and barely able to speak. Roy helps look after him at home. For a child with someone poorly in the family, that might feel quite close. It's handled gently, though, and Roy wanting his dad in the crowd for the semi-final is lovely.

This is the third Roy of the Rovers book and it picks up halfway through Roy's first season as a pro. It catches you up quickly on who's who.

What to read next

If they like a squad where not everyone gets on, try Tom Palmer's Boys United. Jake keeps being told he's too small to make it, and when he finally gets his chance the captain isn't sure he belongs there at all.