Saturday, February 8, 2014

Soccerland by Beth Choat

Age Range: Age 12 and up
Flora’s dream is to play for the U.S. in the Olympics. Her mother was a soccer player who planted the seed of this dream in her mind. When her mother died of cancer when Flora was 10, Flora becomes even more determined to continue with soccer. In her small Maine potato farming town, no one else quite understands, not even her teammates.  Flora gets the opportunity to stay at the international Sports Academy (ISA) for three weeks and jumps at it. Going to camp at ISA is equal to a three week tryout for the U.S. U15 team (did I mention that Flora is only 13?). The majority of the book takes place at ISA in Colorado where Flora makes some friends for life, faces her own fears and doubts in the form of chatty teammates, and works hard to please an ice faced British soccer coach (who only refers to soccer as football and calls the field pitch among other British-isms.). Flora ends up not making the team but the coach offers her the chance to live and train at the training grounds year round, ultimately to join the U15 team. She jumps at the chance with the knowledge she is leaving her family (whom she is very close to) behind in Maine.
What made me like this book so much is how Flora stuck with her dream. In some books, the main character gets brought down by reality as they realize their family needs them on the farm, they’re just not  a good enough soccer player, or their grandfather’s heart attack is a reality check of what she is missing at home. ALL these events happen in the book, yet Flora persists. It’s as if her memory of her mom is stronger than all that.

As a former competitive skier and a sports journalist, author Beth Choate has the background to really capture the environment, emotions, and experiences of a competitive athlete. Beth Choate’s website is very thorough, providing answers to all the questions I had while reading (mainly, is ISA real and when can I go?! It sounds like an amazing place just for kids! Unfortunately, Choate made it up). But my favorite quote on the site was in the answer to the question “Did you always write?” She responded: “In a word, no. I am, and always have been, a voracious reader.” Kindergarten connection finger time! Although I do have to admit, I have always loved to write fiction in addition to reading. I just need to become more disciplined!

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