Category: Children Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN-10: 1847997589
Type: Fiction
Pages: 160
Copyright: Dec 28, 2007
ISBN-13: 9781847997586
Gemma succeeds in starting a girls' football team at her new school, but bitter rival Tyrone does everything he can to stop the girls playing. So begins a battle of wits between the girls and boys, and also between Gemma and sports teacher, Mrs Lawford
Gemma Sutherland isn't happy. A year after the death of her mother, her dad has married Shelley, whose daughter, Portia, is a spoilt brat. As if that wasn't enough they've moved house and Gemma has to go to Naylorsfield Comp where they don't let girls play football like they do at her old school.
Frustrated with her new life, Gemma rebels, shocks her dad by becoming a Goth and vows to drive Shelley and Portia away. She also starts a campaign to introduce girls football at school. Mr Cassidy, her PE teacher, lends his support and the other girls become interested, but Tyrone Collins, Shelley's big headed nephew and the star of Naylorsfield's First Eleven, will do anything to prevent the girls from training or playing in fixtures. Meanwhile, there's a mystery surrounding Shelley and Mr Cassidy, and Gemma sees her chance of getting rid of Shelley for good.
Excerpt
‘Oy, you! Tinkerbell!’ Tyrone came towards me with a menacing look on his face. ‘Give us that ball back!’
He snatched it out of my hands.
‘Don’t you think you’d better get back to the fancy dress party before you’re missed?’
His mates guffawed.
‘I bet I can put a penalty past you, no problem,’ I said furiously.
‘You what?’
‘I said…’
‘I heard what you said.’ Tyrone put his face in mine. ‘But I don’t think everyone in the park did. Do you want to repeat it?’
I did, and was met with four pairs of hostile eyes.
‘Come on, then,’ said Tyrone, ‘let’s see what you’re made of. Golden Balls!’
He chucked the ball at me and I clasped it to my chest. It was muddy and stained the bodice of my dress. He went to the goal and started dancing from one foot to the other.
‘You should make a cracking shot in them fancy shoes,’ he remarked. ‘Watch your heels don’t sink in the mud, darlin’!’
‘This should be good!’ laughed the spotty one.
‘Ah, shut it, Tommo, I bet she can take a better penalty than you!’ said Daz.
'Anyone can take a penalty better than Tommo!’ jeered the fourth lad.
‘Yeah, even you, eh, Zack!’ shouted Tyrone. ‘Hello? Golden Balls?’
I was concentrating on the ball, trying to psych myself up for a great penalty kick. It had to be one of my best to wipe that smile off Tyrone Collins’ face! The rain was getting heavier and my hair was sticking to my face. I brushed it out of my eyes so my view of the ball wasn’t obscured.
‘I’m drowning here!’ cried Tyrone. ‘Get a move on, will yer!’
Taking a deep breath, I took a few steps back, hitched up my skirt and ran forward. The ball shot like a bullet from my foot, sending sprays of mud all over my dress, arms and face, and whizzed high over Tyrone’s head.
He twisted about wildly. ‘Where’d it go?’
‘There it is!’ shouted Daz.
Professional Reviews Goalden Girl by Tracey Morait (rating 4 stars out of 5)
Soccer has become very popular in the United States during the past generation. Today most US school-age children are enrolled in intramural soccer teams. Soccer has long been popular in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom.
Goalden Girl is an adventure story about a young British teenager who is disappointed with an unhappy turn in her family and is also attracted to soccer. Tracey Morait has put together an interesting and well-plotted novel about young Gemma Sutherland, her family problems, and many well-described action scenes of Gemma's soccer games.
The novel begins with Gemma Sutherland as bridesmaid at her father's second marriage. Gemma doesn't like her stepmother or her stepmother's sister. Gemma is resentful because her father remarried after her mother's tragic death almost a year ago. Both her stepmother and the stepmother's sister are drunk at the wedding. In protest to dad's remarriage to such a woman, Gemma decides to become Goth. While dad and the stepmother are on honeymoon, Gemma cuts her hair short, dyes it jet black, uses wax to make it stand up straight, and wears dark eye shadow and dark maroon lipstick. She tops it off with black tights full of holes, short skirt, and chains. She doesn't like her new stepsister, Portia, either, whom she thinks is a spoiled brat and much too fat. She also doesn't like her stepmother's nephew Tyrone, who soon becomes her arch enemy and rival at school.
The death of her mother and her father's remarriage has necessitated that the family move to a new neighborhood with a new school that does not support soccer for girls. Gemma's earlier school did support girl's soccer. Concurrent with her rebellion against the changes in her family, Gemma tries to get her new school to authorize a girl's soccer team. She meets much resistance, especially from her stepmother's nephew Tyrone. He and his friends continually harass the girls compromising their ability to play well and even forcing postponement of games. Mr. Cassidy, the soccer coach assigned to the girl's team has a suspicious relationship with Gemma's stepmother. Gemma plays sleuth and seriously complicates the relationship between her father and his new wife. The father decides to host an extended family dinner to mend things, and the dinner descends into a venomous family fight.
In the meantime, Soccer has given Gemma an outlet for her frustrations and helps her meet new friends in her new neighborhood. She gradually realizes what kind of adjustments her stepmother and new stepsister have had to make, and her attitude toward them softens. Gemma's courage and realistic outlook on life brings about a happy resolution to her problems and the problems of other characters in the novel also. Tracey Morait's Goalden Girl is a wholesome action story for young people about problems teenagers sometimes have to face and the therapeutic effect of intramural sports. If you are interested in soccer, or if your children play soccer, you will enjoy this book. The setting for the book is in the United Kingdom. The spelling and local slang words are unique to the United Kingdom. This adds a special flavor to the novel.
