Profiling women soccer players: inspiring biographies (ages 8-12)

I want to model all sorts of options for girls in my classes--showing them women who have excelled as athletes, scientists, politicians and activists. Kids love playing soccer and many recognize pro players. It's important to share biographies of women soccer players, along with men. Unfortunately, few are published, especially for readers in 3rd through 5th grade. Here are my thoughts on two biographies and one website.

Abby Wambach
by Jon M. Fishman
Amazing Athletes series
Lerner, 2014
preview in Google Books
Your local library
Amazon
ages 8-10

Abby Wambach is one of the current stars of the US women's national team. She scored the winning goal in this week's game against Nigeria, helping her team win their group and advance into the elimination rounds of the World Cup. This biography is clear and straightforward. It starts with an exciting scene from 2012 Olympics to help readers understand Abby's strengths and key role as a player.

Chapters then follow Abby's life in chronological order, looking at the way she played sports as a child, in high school and college, and then finally joining a pro soccer team. Students in 3rd and 4th grade will like the combination of high interest photos, all marked with captions, and widely spaced texts. Take a look at the sample in Google Books to see the print inside the book. We have many books from Lerner's terrific Amazing Athletes series, and many feature women athletes. Unfortunately, this is the only one about a soccer player.

Alex Morgan
by Illugi Jökulsson
Abbeville Kids, 2015
Your local library
Amazon
ages 9-12

Alex Morgan is very well known, and I was excited to order this biography. Unfortunately, it exhibits the worst types of sports writing about women. While the first chapter starts with her role in the US women's national team, the next chapter focuses on her astrological birth sign. Really?!! The chapter on her childhood talks about other famous celebrities who came from the same town.

Not only does this book send harmful messages, its structure is confusing. Readers expect biographies to proceed in sequential order, starting with a figure's childhood. But this biography jumps from Alex's childhood to the early beginnings of soccer in the 1800s to the first Women's World Cup.  This book will draw students in with high quality photographs and bold chapter headings, but it is poorly organized.

US Women's National Team
One Nation. One Team. 23 Stories
ussoccer.com/womens-national-team

Kids will love exploring the US women's national team website. Each player has recorded short heartfelt videos that connect their childhood experiences to their current role as a player on the national team. Short paragraphs model excellent sports writing. But it's the videos that will stick with kids because they'll hear these inspiring stories in the players own voices.

I purchased these review copies came for my personal library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2015 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books