The Dream Team: Jaz Santos vs. the World (The Dream Team, 1)

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The school won't provide money or a coach for a girls' football team, so Jaz convinces a group of friends to join her and raise the money themselves. I requested this book not knowing it was based in Brighton, that’s where I’m from and grew up and could really imagine all these families and all these children where I grew up.

Determined to fix everything, she creates her own girl’s football team to be the star her mum always wanted. Ultimately I decided it would be too mean to knock it down, particularly since it should be noted that I am not the target audience for this book. This is a funny book but there are also many opportunities to learn about football and real-life women football players. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.The excitement when my feet made contact with the ball to dribble or kick, the spark that shot through me as I ran down the wings, and the pride when the ball rolled past the posts. Teachers local to me in East Sussex may be interested to know that the book is set near Brighton and references the Seagulls.

When Jaz finds a leaflet advertising a girls’ football tournament, she seizes the opportunity to take back some control. There are quite a few characters in the book, which makes it hard to get to grips with them all, but they’ll be more-fully explored in other books in “The Dream Team” series.

Jaz felt like their arguments and problems stemmed from her behaviour and that her team winning a competition would fix everything. Telling the rags-to-riches tale of Bramrock Primary's first girls' football team, the novel is full of diverse characters who break plenty of sterotypes. Why would six girls, none of whom were football-mad like me, agree to be in a team that didn’t exist yet?