Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to the Beautiful Game [Paperback]

Clive Gifford (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

From the sublime skills of Pele to a day in the life of a professional soccer player, this gloriously illustrated book explores every aspect of the game. Rules, skills, and tactics are clearly explained and presented with state-of-the-art digital diagrams and photographs. This newly revised edition of a worldwide bestseller offers both practical advice as well as an insider's view of the history of the game, profiles of legendary players, great clubs, and women's soccer. Now including a two-page guide to U.S. domestic leagues and competitions and with dazzling action photos of today's top stars, from Ecuador's Clever Chala to Norway's Margunn Haugenes, Soccer is a must-have for fans of the game.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8 An all-encompassing book that covers the history of the sport; basic rules, skills, and tactics; information on stadiums, soccer media, and "A Pro's Life"; as well as biographies of important players. Few women are mentioned. Small blocks of text are interspersed with a variety of digitally created illustrations that often lend a slightly eerie and surrealistic look to the figures. Color photos enhance the text. The left-hand margin of each page contains see-also topics and page numbers that will allow readers quick access to related information. The final sections include summaries of great competitions and games, one-paragraph biographies, statistics, and a one-page glossary. Web-site selections cover a wide variety of topics from the author's own Web site to "Ask the Ref" and women's soccer. Libraries that own Gary Lineker's Soccer and Hugh Hornby's Soccer (both DK, 2000) probably won't need Gifford's title. However, it will be a solid addition to those in constant need of books on the sport. -Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. This attractive book covers the history, skills, and strategy of soccer. Succinct text and plenty of color illustrations explain different aspects of the game on double-page spreads. Computer-generated images show many of the skills, and although these are not as effective or as striking as color action photographs would have been, their similarity to video game images will make them familiar and even comforting to many readers. Almost all of the pictures in this British import show European players and teams; however, a small section describes the history of American professional soccer teams. Unfortunately, women's soccer, although mentioned, gets inadequate attention in both the text and the photographs, and there is surprisingly little mention of the World Cup. Web sites include information on both the U.S and international forms of the game. A glossary is appended. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Kingfisher; Rev Upd edition (April 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753457520
• ISBN-13: 978-0753457528
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,163,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #99 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Sports > Soccer

More About the Author

Clive Gifford is an award-winning author of over 120 books for children and adults. These range from the serious (Refugees, Robots, Planet Under Pressure: Pollution, Spies and Spying) and sporty (with books on the Olympics, football and tennis) to the downright silly (Pants Attack, Kelly's Smelly Wellies, The Huge Rude Duke).

Clive has travelled through 70 countries, run a computer games company and taken part in all manner of sports from parachuting and gliding to Ultimate Frisbee (he was top scorer at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg back in the nineties).

His books have been shortlisted for the TES Information Book of the Year and the British Book Awards as well as winning Smithsonian, Children's Choice, NAPPA and PBS awards. Sir Ranulph Fiennes called his latest book on Explorers, "An inspiration to all adventurers." whilst The Guardian declared that his Kingfisher Book Of Football "was worth a season's training" and the Manchester Evening News labelled it "The classiest football book around."

Clive's official website can be found at www.clivegifford.co.uk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone of any age wanting to enjoy the game, May 16, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to the Beautiful Game (Paperback)

Now in a fully revised and updated second edition, Soccer: The Ultimate Guide To The Beautiful Game by Clive Gifford is an in-depth guide to the basic skills needed to play one of the world's most popular team sports. Included are all the rules and strategies, along with a brief history of the popular and widely beloved sport of soccer. Full-color illustrations throughout, including three-dimensional realistic computer models of soccer players handling the ball as well as photographs of real-life athletes, Soccer: The Ultimate Guide To The Beautiful Game stands out -- both as a "user friendly" how-to manual and as collectible to cherish for dedicated soccer enthusiasts. Soccer is very highly recommended for anyone of any age wanting to enjoy the game as either a participant or a spectator.