The Beautiful Game: Survival

Gr 6 Up—Sandford Town Football Club, one of the founding members of the Football League in England, has seen better days. Once the most dominant team in the country, Sandford Town FC is now bottom of the league and in danger of being relegated (demoted to the lower leagues). The team board hires Bob Evans, one of the club's past heroes, as its new manager in an attempt to revive the club and stave off relegation. Evans looks to inject some youth into an aging team and turns to Barry and Billy Bennett, 18-year-old twins who play for the Sandford youth team. Can the brothers overcome injuries, hooligans, and the skepticism of their own teammates to help the club succeed? Sharma's comic book—inspired illustrations invoke emotions that perhaps the intended audience won't understand. Though the book takes place in the present day, the football (soccer) uniforms are reminiscent of kits that teams of the 1980s wore, and much more emphasis is placed today on who wins the league rather who drops down to the lower leagues. However, the relegation battle are just as entertaining as the race for the title, and Quinn's story captures that excitement, but the dialogue is outdated and stilted, which somewhat ruins the intended atmosphere.