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Johnny Ball: Accidental Football Genius
From the author of Ultimate Football Heroes comes the first book in the new Johnny Ball series, perfect reading for football-mad kids Johnny Ball LOVES football. He loves reading about it, talking about it, watching it - and he loves playing it too. He's a good player, but not quite good enough to make the Tissbury Primary School team for the super-huge Under-11s County Cup. But never mind, because their clueless coach, Mr Mann, has a special role for Johnny: ASSISTANT MANAGER! With only Grandpa George's old scarf, a 'pocket' notebook and his brilliant football brain, can Johnny lead the Tissbury Primary team all the way to County Cup glory?
208 pages, Paperback
Published June 4, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 4, 2020
A fabulously funny football story right from the kick off. Great characters and witty banter keep the reader cheering on the antics of Tissbury's team of talent. They need some proper guidance - maybe Johnny is the football genius for the job?
Back of the net!
Back of the net!
August 25, 2020
A superduper fun book about a boy who may not be the best in soccer/football… but has tons of knowledge and fun ideas to help out his team.
This was such a delight and I definitely hope this one will be translated to Dutch so I can promote this book even further, this will be a hit here. We got many soccer/football books so I am sure everyone will be delighted with another one. Especially one that is about soccer, but not per se has the MC play soccer/football.
I was a bit tired though of him hating on his mom’s accent ALL THE TIME. We get it, her American accent is not your fave. But boy, please. Be happy she helps you, supports you.
I did like the family in ways at least, I did like that they were supportive of our MC and that they were often found at his competitions. Or at least the parents, the brother wasn’t so nice at first.
Billy was horrible and who the hell had this kid play with those shoes? Or who convinced him that it was a great idea to play like that? I do hope that Billy gets a bit better and nicer in the next book.
How did Mr. Mann even get this job? He should go to the military with the way he does things.
Tabi is AWESOME. I loved reading about her moves and how kick-ass she was with everything. This girl can keep up a ball. Plus, I loved the friendship between Tabi and Johnny. It was fantastic and made me happy. See, boys and girls can be friends.
Johnny has some wonderful ideas to help his team and in each chapter, before the match, we see him have an idea and work it all out. While it all did go a bit too easy and all went a bit too well, I could forgive it as it gave me such a big smile. He really is creative and I had such a giggle at the ideas. Such as telling jokes to distract someone.
I loved seeing the team accepts Johnny more and more, at first they weren’t so sure about him, and I can’t blame him given how he plays, but he shows them he has got some great ideas and he is willing to help them out.
The illustrations were a ton of fun and made the story even more fun!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
This was such a delight and I definitely hope this one will be translated to Dutch so I can promote this book even further, this will be a hit here. We got many soccer/football books so I am sure everyone will be delighted with another one. Especially one that is about soccer, but not per se has the MC play soccer/football.
I was a bit tired though of him hating on his mom’s accent ALL THE TIME. We get it, her American accent is not your fave. But boy, please. Be happy she helps you, supports you.
I did like the family in ways at least, I did like that they were supportive of our MC and that they were often found at his competitions. Or at least the parents, the brother wasn’t so nice at first.
Billy was horrible and who the hell had this kid play with those shoes? Or who convinced him that it was a great idea to play like that? I do hope that Billy gets a bit better and nicer in the next book.
How did Mr. Mann even get this job? He should go to the military with the way he does things.
Tabi is AWESOME. I loved reading about her moves and how kick-ass she was with everything. This girl can keep up a ball. Plus, I loved the friendship between Tabi and Johnny. It was fantastic and made me happy. See, boys and girls can be friends.
Johnny has some wonderful ideas to help his team and in each chapter, before the match, we see him have an idea and work it all out. While it all did go a bit too easy and all went a bit too well, I could forgive it as it gave me such a big smile. He really is creative and I had such a giggle at the ideas. Such as telling jokes to distract someone.
I loved seeing the team accepts Johnny more and more, at first they weren’t so sure about him, and I can’t blame him given how he plays, but he shows them he has got some great ideas and he is willing to help them out.
The illustrations were a ton of fun and made the story even more fun!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
May 24, 2020
Johnny is desperate to show his family that he's just as good at football as they are. Sadly - he just isn't. He can't kick, pass, or head the ball as well as they can. But he is great at one part of the game...
Matt Oldfield is famous for his series of biographies of famous players. Now he's put all that knowledge into writing this hilarious children's book, the first in a series. Johnny is a brilliant character, smart, quick witted and determined. Children will love to see that there's more than one way to be involved in your favourite hobby, and even if you're not great at every aspect of it, you'll be good at some of it.
My proof copy didn't have all the illustrations, but there's enough here for me to know that they're going to be very funny when they're published in full. This is the start of a brilliant new series and I can't wait for it to publish.
Matt Oldfield is famous for his series of biographies of famous players. Now he's put all that knowledge into writing this hilarious children's book, the first in a series. Johnny is a brilliant character, smart, quick witted and determined. Children will love to see that there's more than one way to be involved in your favourite hobby, and even if you're not great at every aspect of it, you'll be good at some of it.
My proof copy didn't have all the illustrations, but there's enough here for me to know that they're going to be very funny when they're published in full. This is the start of a brilliant new series and I can't wait for it to publish.
June 10, 2020
This is a brilliant book that really took me back to my primary school days. Readers will love the beautifully crafted characters and the strong sense of humour throughout. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews