Booked

"This is one of those books I became aware of through chatting with librarians on Twitter and Instagram. If somebody recommends a book to me I find that their enthusiasm for the story always means more to me than any blurb or a publisher’s spiel. I love school librarians – they are at the front line, they know what kids are actually reading. They are the superheroes of the industry, really. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. I also chose this one because it’s written in free verse, which means you are not overwhelmed by pages filled with text. Obviously, some readers might hate poetry, but it’s free verse which is a bit different. I hope kids won’t be put off, because as soon as you start reading, you almost forget you’re reading poetry – you just get caught up in the characters and the story. I love the economy of language that you get with poetry, how a few carefully chosen words can capture the essence of a moment. I think this is well-pitched too. Writing for teenagers and young people is difficult because you have to be very careful you don’t come across like someone’s dad, someone trying too hard to do the teen speak. And cultural references change so quickly. But I think Kwame Alexander really nailed it with this. It feels authentic and modern. There’s some great bits of humour in there, and again this isn’t just a story about football – the main character’s family are breaking up, and he’s struggling to deal with that too. “For me, and for a lot of people I think, football is a lot to do with family. ” As the title suggests , Booked is full of clever word play and it’s very subtle. The author puts in all these fantastic words, so you learn stuff, but almost by accident. I really enjoyed it, and it’s one of those books that I think teenagers will enjoy. A lot of books are recommended for young people, and sometimes you read them and think, ‘Yeah, that’s a really good book, but I’m not sure how many of the target audience are really going to be able to relate to it.’ This one has hit the mark."