The Beautiful Game

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Author(s)

Yamile Saied Méndez

Publisher

Algonquin Young Readers

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

September 17, 2024

ISBN

1643753983

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A powerful story about family, fútbol, and playing like a girl, perfect for fans of Front Desk, The Academy, and, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret from the award-winning author of Furia.

At thirteen years old, Valeria "Magic" Salomón is already the best soccer player her town has ever seen. She has talent in spades and an abuelo whose tough-love coaching and lessons about “strength and honor” have made her the star of the Overlords, the top boys’ team in the state.

But everything changes at the State Cup semi-final when Valeria gets her first period while Wearing. White. Shorts. After her team is unexpectedly eliminated, she goes from their secret weapon to their scapegoat. Soon, she doesn’t have a team at all anymore. She’s not sure she has a relationship with her grandfather either.

Valeria’s a fighter, however. And with the help of her grandmother and support of her cheerleader BFF, she finds herself on a girls’ team for the first time. But the Amazons aren’t exactly excited to have her there. After all, Valeria’s spent years ignoring their existence. With the next tournament looming on the horizon, Valeria has a month to figure out her place on her new team and learn how to play like a girl.

The award-winning author of Furia returns to the world of “the beautiful game” in this uplifting, heartfelt novel about family, self-confidence, and the power of second chances.

Editor review

1 review

A Fantastic Look at Girls' Soccer

September 01, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Valeria Salomón lives in Utah with her grandmother (Lita) and grandfather, who is also her soccer coach for the Overlords. Her parents were very young when she was born, and her father has only visited her five times, since he lives on the east coast and travels a lot as a photographer. Val loves soccer, and is a very good player. She's played with the Overlords for years, and her best friend, Sasha used to be on the team as well. Now, however, Val is the only girl on the team. Her grandmother and father are supposed to come to a crucial game, but the family is devastated to find out that her Tia Antonello in Argentina is not doing well at all. Lita packs up to go, and Val's father joins her. Val isn't feeling well during the game, and realizes too late that it's because she's gotten her period. A time out is called, and the entire team changes from white to black shorts. Distracted, Val blows a play and feels embarassed and awful... until she finds out that Abuelo found out during the game that her aunt has died. Since he's had a tumultuous relationship with the aunt, he doesn't handle things well, and Val decides to stay next door at Sasha's house, where her mother gets her period supplies and tries to help her through the difficult days. Eventually, Lita comes home... with Antonella's son Maxwell in tow. Since it's summer, he has time to settle in to living in Val's father's old room, and even starts to play with the Overlords, since Val was kicked off. Val thinks it's unfair, but her grandmother points out that if she wants to be considered for the Olypic Development Program, she needs to play on a girls' team. The best coach out there is Linda Blume, but when Val calls her, Coach Blume tells her that her team is full, and she's just missed the try out period. Undaunted, Val goes to her house and explains why she didn't go through the tryouts. She gets on the Amazon team as the 19th player on the roster. Still stinging from being kicked off the boys' team, Val doesn't do well at first. Eventually, she starts to realize that she's not playing WITH the team, but is just trying to showcase her own skills. Once she figures this out, she starts to play better, and Sasha helps her connect socially with her teammates. Lita jumps in to full soccer mom mode, bringing her knitting and sitting between Maxwell and Val's teams. Abuela may be struggling with his daughter's death, and letting the other coach, José, work with the team, but Maxwell is slowly acclimating to his new home situation. When both Maxwell and Valeria have a big tournament, Val's dad comes in, and there's plenty of team drama as the Overlords and the Amazons play for their respective league trophies.

Good Points

This was a very realistic look at how families can take many different forms. While Lita and Abuelo are Val's grandparents, they are raising her, so feel a bit more like a mom and dad. There's a nice scene when the Amazons have a "mother-daughter" party, and Val feels a bit awkward asking Lita, who of course is perfectly happy to attend. There are a lot of my students who are in similar circumstances, so I liked how matter-of-fact the family situations were. The draw for young readers will be all of the soccer details. I know in Ohio, girls can play on boys' teams, but boys can't play on girls' teams, so this seemed realistic. The Overlords generally liked Val, but there were some members who were irritated, which also seemed realistic. The difficult family situation after the aunt's death was well handled, and one of my favorite moments was when Sasha and Maxwell met and Val could tell they liked each other. Yes, tween life still goes on, even under stressful circumstances. Val is a little jealous of Maxwell, since he has spent more time with her dad, but she does acknowledge that this is a bit petty, since he has just lost his mother. There are never enough books with sports in them, and this will be a very popular book with my students, who have also enjoyed this author's Shaking Up the House and Wish Upon a Stray!

The period positivity in this book is a great addition, since girls who play sports sometimes struggle to manage this issue. I do wish that authors would not alarm girls so much about getting their period for the first time, though; it is rarely this noticeable or traumatic!

Soccer is a very popular sport with middle school students, and I will be recommending this fantastic title to readers who enjoyed Morgan's The Kicks series, Matheson's Select, and Lupica's Defending Champ.