Born to Play (Jamie Johnson Reader #1)

Dan Freedman is a Sunday Times bestselling author whose global book sales have surpassed 1 million copies.

He is best known for his hugely popular series of Jamie Johnson football novels.

The novels — about a kid aiming to become the greatest player in the world — have helped a generation of reluctant readers get into books. They have also been adapted into an award-winning TV series by the BBC.

The Jamie Johnson drama series has been broadcast in 73 different countries. Having watched it when growing up, Jude Bellingham commented: "I almost feel like I am Jamie Johnson now."

Before becoming an author, Dan was managing editor for The Football Association. He has interviewed the likes of Messi and Ronaldo and travelled to two World Cups as the first-ever in-house journalist to be embedded with the England Team.

He was also part of the official delegations to meet Queen Elizabeth II, two Prime Ministers and Nelson Mandela.

When not writing, Dan gives inspirational talks at schools and sports clubs. His mission is to make reading and writing cool, and he works closely alongside the Premier League.

He has now made more than 2000 school visits and it was those experiences that inspired him to write the award-winning teen thriller - Unstoppable. The story is about Roxy and Kaine, two supremely talented siblings, whose sky-high sporting ambitions ultimately put both their lives in danger. Unstoppable has been recommended by Marcus Rashford, who said the book was "like a little movie" and that it reminded him of his own household when he was growing up.

Dan's most recent novel, I Am Lenny Brown, picks up on the anxieties that many young people are suffering from having missed out on a big part of their social development during lockdown. Lenny is a deeply sensitive, highly intelligent boy who is a big character at home, but can't speak when he's at school. The story, which was nominated for a Carnegie Medal for Writing, has been compared to the novel Wonder.

2024 saw the publication of Dan's first non-fiction book. 50 Ways Into Football, written with the sports lawyer Daniel Geey, explores all the different ways young people can aim for a career which involves football, without being one of the 22 players on the pitch. Declan Rice has provided the foreword and the aim of the book is to channel young football fans’ passion for the game into a motivational force as they start to think about which careers they might want to pursue.

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