Product Description

HOW DID A POOR BOY named Edson - who kicked rocks down roads and dribbled balls made from rags - go on to become the greatest soccer player of all time? While other kids memorized letters, Edson memorized the scores of soccer matches. And when Edson finally played in a youth soccer tournament in the town of Bauru, Brazil, he focused on only one thing from the moment the whistle blew: the goal.

Here is the story of the boy who overcame tremendous odds to become the world champion soccer star Pelé.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #490707 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-25
• Released on: 2007-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From Booklist
*Starred Review* With handsome oil paintings and a stirring story, this picture-book biography will first grab children with its action. Just as exciting, though, is the account of Brazilian-born Pelé's personal struggle—his amazing rise from poverty to international soccer stardom. The focus is on Pelé's childhood in Bauru, Brazil, in the 1940s and early 1950s. The pictures show him in his multiracial community, especially on the soccer field. He is punished for not paying attention in class; then he gives up school altogether to play soccer. His team, the Shoeless Ones, play barefoot; the ball is a sock stuffed with rags. The kids shine shoes and sell peanuts, until they earn enough for uniforms and second-hand shoes. Inspired by his dad, Pelé plays hard and is chosen as the team captain, and in a triumphant climax, he scores the winning goal in a big youth tournament. An afterword fills in the facts about how Edson (Pelé was a nickname) went on to become the greatest soccer player ever known.The small painting of the team's battered second-hand shoes is a moving testament to its struggle, particularly in contrast to the final triumphant pages when Pelé kicks the ball straight into the goal. Rochman, Hazel

Review
Starred Review, Booklist, September 1, 2007:
"With handsome oil paintings and a stirring story, this picture-book biography will first grab children with its action."
—Hazel Rochman

About the Author
Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome are the author and illustrator of Satchel Paige and Major Taylor, Champion Cyclist. James is also the illustrator of Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson, an ALA Notable Book and Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book; Creation, which won a Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration; and Let My People Go by Patricia C. McKissack, winner of an NAACP Image Award. They live in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Customer Reviews

Engrossing reading for kids in grades 2-4.
Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome's YOUNG PELE: SOCCER'S FIRST STAR tells of a poor Brazilian boy who kicks rocks down roads and dribbles balls made from rags - and who goes on to become the greatest soccer player of all time. His skills and the evolution of his talents make for engrossing reading for kids in grades 2-4.