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beths0103's review
4.0
A beautiful look at the sporting dreams of young people in another cultures, namely South Africa, but mainly the everyday play. A.G. Ford's enchanting illustrations put me in mind of Kadir Nelson who is my absolute favorite illustrator.
shawnareads24's review
4.0
Wonderful illustrations and a simple, yet poignant story about young boys in a village in South Africa who love to play soccer. Through the game of soccer they are able to forget for a brief time about the unsafe area in which they live.
yapha's review
5.0
Another nominee in the California Young Readers Medal Picture Books for Older Readers Category. This amazing book with sparse text manages to capture a wide range of emotion as the group of young boys revel in their new soccer ball, are accosted by bullies, and then outwit the bullies and resume their game. I particularly liked the author's note on the history of soccer. those who lov
jshettel's review
4.0
Set in South Africa, this picture book explore universal themes of what it means to work together as a team. Young students will be able to relate to the plot that has to do with a prized soccer ball, some determined children, and a few bullies. A feel-good kind of story which would work well for the start of the school year and establishing class rules.
emilycc's review
5.0
Goal, written by Mina Javaherbin and illustrated by A. G. Ford, does a wonderful thing: it embraces its setting and the culture of its characters without preaching about them or other-izing them. Goal tells the story of a group of boys in a South African shantytown who, during a game of street soccer (called in the story, like it is in South Africa, ‘football’), escape the wrath of the town bullies, and manage to hang on to their “federation-sized football” for another game.
Javaherbin’s lyrical rhythmic text captures the speed and joy of the boys’ soccer game (“When we play,/we feel strong….We kick. We dribble. We run/after our brilliant ball.”) Javaherbin also includes in the main text and in an author’s note, the sense that soccer is truly a global game. “I follow the ball to end of the alley,” says the narrator. “I follow the ball to the end of the world.”
Ford’s sun-saturated oil illustrations shift perspective throughout the story. Often, the viewer acts as another player in the game: the soccer ball zooms out of the page and toward the reader, or the reader looks over another player’s shoulder. The depth of the illustrations, which often feature an object or character, in the immediate foreground, draw the reader in to the story and complement the immediacy of Javaherbin’s present-tense text.
Both the text and illustrations acknowledge the reality of life in a shantytown without emphasizing it to the point of distraction from the text. One of the boys has only flip-flops instead of tennis shoes; all of the boys wear torn or dirty t-shirts and shorts, and their soccer field is a dusty alley with buckets set up to mark the goals. The improvised buildings that make up the shantytown feature pieced together walls and corrugated aluminum roofs. But none of this poverty is depressing, at least not in the context of the story. Rather, it serves as a realistic background for a story that’s about friendship, football, and bullies more than cultural differences. A great edition to any collection, especially in a World Cup year!
Javaherbin’s lyrical rhythmic text captures the speed and joy of the boys’ soccer game (“When we play,/we feel strong….We kick. We dribble. We run/after our brilliant ball.”) Javaherbin also includes in the main text and in an author’s note, the sense that soccer is truly a global game. “I follow the ball to end of the alley,” says the narrator. “I follow the ball to the end of the world.”
Ford’s sun-saturated oil illustrations shift perspective throughout the story. Often, the viewer acts as another player in the game: the soccer ball zooms out of the page and toward the reader, or the reader looks over another player’s shoulder. The depth of the illustrations, which often feature an object or character, in the immediate foreground, draw the reader in to the story and complement the immediacy of Javaherbin’s present-tense text.
Both the text and illustrations acknowledge the reality of life in a shantytown without emphasizing it to the point of distraction from the text. One of the boys has only flip-flops instead of tennis shoes; all of the boys wear torn or dirty t-shirts and shorts, and their soccer field is a dusty alley with buckets set up to mark the goals. The improvised buildings that make up the shantytown feature pieced together walls and corrugated aluminum roofs. But none of this poverty is depressing, at least not in the context of the story. Rather, it serves as a realistic background for a story that’s about friendship, football, and bullies more than cultural differences. A great edition to any collection, especially in a World Cup year!
scarlettletters's review
3.0
n a run-down South African town, a group of boys gets together to play soccer with a brand-new ball. The appearance of bullies threatens to ruin their fun, but in this story for young readers the boys turn out all right, soccer ball intact. The illustrations are lifelike and each boys face perfectly expresses the emotions of excitement, fear, and dismay. The text and the brief author's note hint at larger threats and dangers than bullies, but the book is more about children having fun playing a game than any larger political message. Young boys and sports fans will enjoy a look at how children in other countries play.
gileslibrarian6's review
5.0
Beautiful picture book about a group of boys enjoying a game of soccer and outsmarting the bullies in the neighborhood.
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