Pele: King of Soccer (El rey del futbol)-By: Monica Brown; Illustrated By: Rudy Gutierrez

This book was about Edson Arantes do Nascimento. He was a famous soccer player in Brazil, South America from the mid 1950s to shortly before 1980. I had never heard about him before but I'm not a big fan of soccer. Soccer doesn't seem to be a big thing in the United States as it is every where else in the world, however, so many little kids play soccer as their first sport, so it surprises me that it isn't more popular in the United States. My child study talks about it all the time. The book was written and illustrated beautifully. On each page, there was English text and it was then translated into Spanish. The book could be read cover to cover by either and English reader or a Spanish reader. Even the author and illustrator information is written in both languages. Just the general story is heartwarming and the author really develops the main character Pele, very well. The reader feels bad for him for his living situation but the author makes the reader believes so much in him and what he can do. The illustrations were also awesome! The colors were bright and really made the page really stand out to the reader. There were all kinds of hidden things inside the pictures too. The book took twice as long to read because all the time I took looking at the illustrations. The book was about believing in yourself even when you the underdog, so I think it's a great book to read to students. It's really a confidence booster. There is also a lot of diversity in it. Pele is poor and black. So it's not about the average white male. The text is also in Spanish which would be good for Spanish ELL students. Good book.