From the publisher:
A moving and thought-provoking middle-grade novel from author of the Carnegie-winning The Blue Book of Nebo. Exploring themes of family, football, friendship, physical disability and illiteracy, this is a story about hope and the complicated relationship between a father and son when the one interest they share is taken away from them.
"A sensitive portrayal of a family under pressure, which addresses important issues with empathy and warmth." - Simon Packham
Sam and his dad both love football, which is always there for them however tough real life becomes. That is, until Dad's dreams of football stardom go horribly wrong. Sam's love for the footballing legend becomes tangled with his relationship for his father as things go south in their family life.
The author:
Manon Steffan Ros is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Her YA novel The Blue Book of Nebo won the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2023 after being translated from its original Welsh Llyfr Glas Nebo, which won the Wales Book of the Year Award, Fiction Award and the People's Choice Award, as well as the Prose Medal at the National Eisteddfod. Her novels for children and young adults have won the Tir na n-Og Welsh Children's Book Award five times, and several of her novels and plays are on the Welsh curriculum for teaching in schools. Originally from Rhiwlas, a village in the mountains of north Wales, she now lives in Tywyn, a town by the ocean with her three children. Manon loves Liverpool Football Club, hiking and cake.
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