No valid German National Library records retrieved.

No valid German National Library records retrieved.

So, this book is about soccer and friendship in a nutshell. Diego wants to play with the wild soccer bunch while his father wants him to play for the furies (another soccer club). I liked soccer so I immediately knew I was going to like this one. The author introduces a moral conflict which Diego must solve and this teaches kids a moral lesson. Great book for all ages! :D ( )

The Wild Soccer Bunch Book 2 Diego the Tornado

This is the second book in the Wild Soccer Bunch series.
In this new book there is a new boy in town who wants to play on their team
The problem is that the boy's father a famous soccer player doesn't want his
son to play with a bunch of kids he wants him to play with a real soccer league
It is up to the Wild Soccer bunch to learn what it means to be a team and a friend.
This is a great book about the power of teamwork and friendship. I would recommend this book to any
young adult who likes soccer, friends, and a good laugh. My four children all read this book and they loved it! ( )

As a public school librarian, I was interested in reviewing this book to see if the series would appeal to my 3-5th grade students. However, I wasn't sure how good of a judge I would be because I don't read a lot of sport-related novels myself. The partner of a soccer fanatic, I know how exciting MLS can be for some folks, so my guess was this book would be a good fit for any young boy or girl who liked to play soccer, with or without dreams of being an all-star soccer player. Whether or not it would appeal to non-soccer fans was another story.

Masannek puts young readers directly into the shoes of a very young soccer player who shares a very big dream with his best friends, all members of a self-proclaimed, wild and crazy Wild Soccer Bunch. Without bogging readers down with too much active detail, his fast-paced, easy-to-read plot and simplistic dialogue guide the story of Diego's trial and transformation as an asthmatic who goes from being afraid of losing his spot on the team to taking charge of a team crisis, the point in which when his teammates' dreams need rescuing from the trash when the Wild Soccer Bunch is insulted by an MLS player who happens to be the father of the new kid in school. This chapter book is laced with humor and some nuggets of wisdom about being a true friend, sticking up for your beliefs, and daring to be better than your best.

All in all, I was not surprised that I would find the book appropriate and fun for my students. What surprised me was how much I could enjoy reading it for myself. Although some of the instances of parents taking a backseat to the desires of children who won't take no for an answer seem a bit fantastical, at the same time, Masannek has painted a likeness of real children who conceivably imagine themselves willing away the rules and limitations set by the adults around them when it comes to making a dream like becoming an MLS player a reality. Children may more easily accept the situations presented in the book with less of a critical eye for fallacy than I as an adult tend to use. I think it is safe to say that this is the kind of book that can transcend the age group it was designed for. Adults, even those with very sophisticated tastes, could have some fun with this book, and it is certainly a good book for parents to read aloud with their children! ( )