Thursday 28 May 2020

Blog Tour Baller Boys by Venessa Taylor (Children's, 7 years +, 10E/10E)

Check out the other tour stops!

28th May 2020, Hashtag Press, 96 pages, Ebook & Paperback, Review copy 

Summary from Hashtag Press
Shay and Frankie are best friends and football crazy! They eat, sleep and breathe football (even when they're at school!). They dream about playing football, love a kick-about in the park, watch all the big games on TV... all that's missing in their lives is the chance to play for a real football team. All Cultures United is the best club around for miles and all the footie fans want to on their team... including Shay and Frankie. Are they good enough to impress Coach Reece at the AC United trials? Can their friendship survive the competitiveness of football? Will they ultimately fulfil their goal to become Baller Boys? 

 
Nayu's Thoughts
It's always a pleasure to be a stop on a blog tour, and an honour to be one of the blogs kickstarting the entire tour! The other is Scope of Imagination so go check out their review! 

As you can see from the score I gave it, Baller Boys is an epic read. Yes there are a fair few football series for children, but this one is really good because of the conflict it cover. It looks closely at emotions, how nerves can affect performance, how Shay getting something Frankie didn't lead to jealousy and slightly bizarrre behaviour. Those are aspects of human nature that people will experience their whole life, not just as a child, but it's an important one for children to get to grips with. It's not a pleasant experience for either friend, but the consequences of it in the long run work out just fine, and it turns out Frankie has another problem that was only discovered because of the upset. 

There's a lot of positivity in the story, it focuses on working towards goals regardless of if they are reached on the first attempt. Saving money up for a goal is introduced as a concept, something that readers can take away and apply in their own lives. I guess some of what happens to Frankie is bullying, which again sadly is commonplace, but will hopefully help readers to stop bullies and seek help when they are suffering. I am a girl who loves girly books, which I know is politically incorrect with gender neutrality and equality, but I loved Baller Boys which shows it's for everyone who loves reading about friendship! 

Not exactly book related, but may contribute to why the book got written, is a journey Venessa has been through. I think it is the correct Venessa, just search her name online and you'll see what I mean, it makes her one incredible woman! She already was one, but not even I have had that much time in hospital (thankfully). 

Find out more on the Baller Boys website.

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