The Kicks – Switching Goals

Alex Morgan's The Kicks Switching Goals is a football and friendship story for 8 year olds about a girl who goes along to support her friend and gets spotted herself.

What happens

Devin plays for the Kicks, her middle school team in California (it's an American book, so it's soccer, not football). She moved there from Connecticut and still misses her best friend Kara.

It starts with a match. Devin passes to Frida, who usually defends, and Frida scores her very first goal. Frida is an actor and super dramatic. She decides on the spot that Devin brings her luck. So Devin HAS to come to her next audition.

While Devin waits in the corridor, she kicks a scrunched-up bit of paper about. A casting agent spots her. She wants a tall, sporty girl to model workout clothes for a photo shoot. The money is a hundred dollars an hour.

Devin's not sure at all. She'd rather be on the pitch than in front of a mirror. But the money could buy new boots. Or even a plane ticket to Connecticut for an old friend's sweet sixteen party, which her parents have already said is too expensive.

The shoot itself is lovely to read. Devin gets her make-up done and suddenly feels awkward about her blotchy cheeks next to the other model. She does her football stretches the proper way, which isn't what the photographer wants. When he asks her to smile, it comes out as a grimace!

There's lots of chat and teasing between the friends. Jessi asks if Devin comes in pocket size. And Frida's new fortune-telling app keeps handing out predictions that Devin is sure are wrong.

Under the fun, Devin's got real questions to work out. Her dad's already talking about football scholarships for college, and she hasn't even thought that far. Her mum isn't sure about her modelling at all. It's gently done, and Devin's worries about how she looks are treated kindly.

This is one book in a series, and it mentions earlier trouble with a rival team. It explains enough that you won't feel lost.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, the same friends are back in The Kicks Choosing Sides. Frida has landed the lead in a musical right in the middle of the season, and Devin is worried she won't make it to practice.