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Tom Palmer's Football Academy: Free Kick is a football story for 8 year olds about a boy everyone expects to be a star, except the boy himself.
James Cunningham plays centre back for the United under-twelves. He's one of the most promising young defenders at any Premier League club. His dad played for England, scored the winner in a cup final and lifted the trophy as captain. So of course James will do the same. Everyone says so.
Only James isn't sure he wants to. He loves football. There's just another dream he cares about more, and he hasn't told a soul.
The team are off to London for a pre-Christmas tournament, with his dad coming along as one of the grown-ups. James is secretly hoping the snow will get it cancelled. It doesn't.
What follows is a lovely mix of football and feelings. There's a FIFA competition on the coach (James loses his semi-final to his own dad!) and a nail-biting match against Arsenal that goes to penalties. There's also Craig, the team's troublemaker, who sneaks out after lights out and ends up talking to a policeman.
The bit that really lands is James and his dad. Everywhere they go, grown men want to shake his dad's hand and tell James he'll be pulling on an England shirt one day. You can feel how uncomfortable it makes him. And his dad just doesn't seem to notice.
Who hasn't felt like other people had their life all planned out for them? James's worries are very relatable, and the story takes them seriously without making his dad the bad guy.
The game scores and the coach's marks out of ten are dropped in between chapters, which football fans will love. Ryan, the captain who's only recently stopped being a bit of a bully, gets a nice moment of his own too.
If they want more football with a family at its heart, try On Tour, also by Tom Palmer. Roy Race has just made it into the Melchester Rovers side he grew up cheering on, but when the squad gathers before the pre-season tour, something odd is going on and Roy seems to be right in the middle of it.
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