Lizzie's Soccer Showdown

W. Bruce Wrigley coaches children’s soccer in Toronto.

Lizzie Lucas, a 7th-grader at Corydon Junior High, proposes that girls
be allowed to try out for the boys’ soccer team when the girls’ team
tryout yields too few players. Lizzie, her best friend, Neena, and her
three team-tryout mates make the team, but soon run into trouble. While
the coach accepts them as fully qualified players, their male teammates
do not.

This story combines friendship, family, peer pressure, and soccer
skills in a finely structured tale. Along the way, the reader encounters
Lizzie’s close and supportive family (where there is a tradition of
soccer), and her struggle with the issue of popularity. Her friendship
with Neena is sorely tested as the soccer drama unfolds. The story roars
to an exciting finale when Lizzie challenges her male teammates to a
win-or-quit-the-team playoff against the five girls. As the underlying
fairness of Lizzie’s idea gains credibility, attitudes in Lizzie’s
school undergo a transformation.

Danakas develops the story’s characters believably and captures the
world of preadolescent peer pressure. You do not have to be a soccer fan
to enjoy this well-plotted story—but you may become one by its end.
Highly recommended.