Toppsta - Childrens Books – Reviews

Football Academy is an exciting series of books about a Premier League under-twelve side and the lives of the young players. Each book follows a junior footballer living his dream, playing at United FC’s football academy. However, even for football stars, school life is not easy. 

Ryan is the team captain, so why does he bully his team-mates? Yunis is the team’s star player, but his dad wants him to give up the game and focus on his schoolwork. James is the son of an England international player, but the pressure of his dad’s reputation can be too much. Even the joy of being at the prestigious football academy does not make the players’ struggles growing up any easier to deal with.

Readers aged 7 and over will identify with the difficulties the young footballers face at school and at home, but more importantly, they will love the exciting descriptions of the highs and lows of playing football at the top. 

The series is written by author Tom Palmer, a huge football fan and reading expert who has worked at The Reading Agency, Booktrust and the National Literacy Trust. Tom wanted to make the Football Academy as realistic as possible and approached Burnley FC to help him. Burnley let him interview players, parents and coaches at their academy, meaning that these books may well be the closest you can get to playing for a real under 12 football team! 

Football fans will love this six-book series and even the most reluctant reader will race through the easy to read, exciting stories. It’s best to start with book one – Boys United – but you can also read them out of order. 

All the Football Academy Books in order:

Book 1: Boys United (2009)
Book 2: Striking Out (2009) 
Book 3: The Real Thing (2009)
Book 4: Reading the Game (2009)
Book 5: Free Kick (2009)
Book 6: Captain Fantastic (2010)