Kicker

by Michele Martin Bossley

Izzy and Julia have been on the same team for years. Izzy is frustrated that Julia spends too much time cherry-picking and getting all the credit when they score. But when someone starts threatening the team and their home field is sabotaged, the friends must work together to find the answers. Why would someone threaten their star player? And what is the connection to a century-old train robbery and the rumor of buried treasure? Trying to solve the mystery and keep the team in the playoff race, Izzy and Julia find themselves in deeper than they thought, and in more danger than they imagined.

Genres: Sports, Soccer, Young Adult

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

MICHELE MARTIN BOSSLEY was born in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., but grew up in Calgary from the time she was five. She is the author of numerous children's books, including "Taking a Dive, " runner-up for the R. Ross Annett Award in Children's Literature, and "The Perfect Gymnast, " nominated for the 1999 Manitoba Reader's Choice Award. Many of her novels have been Canadian Children's Centre Our Choice selections including "Goon Squad", "The Winning Edge", and "Trapped". One of her more recent books, "Pool Princess, " has been nominated for a Golden Eagle Children's

Reviews

[Felipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was awesome and i liked how the details helped me understand the mistery behind the soccer field hehe. it was a really good book and kinda easy to solve=]

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kicker the book filled with mysteries
The book Kicker by Michele Martin Bossley is a book of a lifetime because of the mysteries
found. Also this book contains 162 pages. So it all starts off when Izzy and Julia are playing a
soccer match and when they get called out to go out as substitute. When they are sitting on the
bench they notice this dude watching them and they thought it was a scout but they are very
wrong they also notice someone is threatening them and start to sabotage their home field. This
book falls into the Mystery genre because when the protagonist Izzy and her friend Julia notice
this man sitting in the stands taking notes. They think it’s a scout for the national team but it’s
not. So they research him and try to find out who it is but when they search his name it shows
about a train robbery years ago but does that have to do with the man? Or does it? One of the conflicts in
this book is man vs self because right at the beginning of the book Izzy is frustrated that her
best friend Julia is always cherry-picking the ball and always gets credit for all the rebounds that Izzy
first shoots. Another type of conflict is man vs nature because when Izzy and Julia find out
someone is sabotaging their home field and someone is threatening them so they try to find out
who it is. Overall this is a good because first I like to play soccer and it’s about something and
also because it’s mysterious and I like mysterious books because I get lost on the book .I
recommend this book to people that like very mysterious books.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun, young adult mystery which I would recommend for that age group.

[Paul]

Ok

[Mackenzie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading the book Kicker. I LOVED this book. If you like to play soccer, and like mystery books then this is a book you would LOVE to read! My favorite character out of this book was definitly Izz because she is always looking for clues, she does'nt give up she just keeps going. The book is about a mystery train robbery that happened over 100 YEARS AGO!! As Izz, her BFF, and Drew are at their soccer games Izzie's friend has been receiving threating text messages from an unknown number. Some text messages are saying "Lose the game or else" and "Stop being such a cherry picker". Drew, Izz, and her friend go looking for clues on who have been vandalizing their soccer nets, and complaining their soccer fields are contaminated with lead.
Izz starts doing research on everything and finds out something very shocking! Witch just leads to more clues In the end of the story their had been a criminal caught from over 100 years ago and the soccer team goes to nationals. Read this book to find out if the team wins nationals and what happens with the train robbery and the threating text messages. I personally LOVED this book and I think you will too!! :)

[Eden Schanzenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loooooved this book. It was about soccer which made it even better, because that is my favorite sport. I also love mystery books, so it made it even better. I would recommend this book to anybody that understands soccer a little bit. If you don't even know that there was a sport called soccer then you might be confused throughout the book. This book had two main characters, Izzy and Julia. They are best friends who play on the same soccer team and go to the same school. Julia always stands in front of the goal and gets the rebounds, therefore she is the lead scorer. Some people are sick of it because they take the shots and she gets the credit. Will that ever change?

When they come across a secret that they have to find the answer too, the adventure starts. One clue after another leading to their answer. When the answer is a treasure you have to find it, but will they? I won't tell you the rest, so you will have to read the book to find out!

[Efren Castaneda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was based on soccer and that what i like play soccer. one thing that i found interesting about this book it not only had soccer involved in this but also it had some mystery involved in it. I recommend this book to people who like soccer and like to read of something new like for example mystery. this book is about three girls who play in a soccer team and theres always one player that wants to be better than anyone so then the other players get mad. and then they close down their soccer field were they played because the soil was contaminated and they had to evacuate so the three people investigated and found out who was the one who contaminated the field just because that person was looking for a treasure. at the end he got caught and sent to jail.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, I really enjoyed reading Kicker by Michele Martin Bossley. The novel had very precise detail that made it easy to picture what was happening in my head. This novel encouraged me to read more because at the end of each chapter, it left missing details that was written in the next chapter. Sooner than I realized, I had finished the novel. After reviewing everything I would rate this novel five out of five stars. My favorite part of the novel is when Izzy and Julia proves who was sending the threatening text messages. If I had to change one thing about this novel, it would be that they tell the coach or the police about the threatening text messages. In conclusion, this novel was very good and I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading mystery novels.

[Jared S · Rating 5 out of 5]

My opinion of the book KICKER by Michele Martin Bossley was that it was a amazing book to read about sports. The story is about a soccer team whose field had gotten destroyed, and two friends were going to solve what happened. I liked it because it talked about playing soccer and how two friends wouldn't give up. A thing that I didn't like was that both friends had missed a lot of practices. Also, I liked how both friends were solving a mystery about their damaged field. Another, reason why I liked it is that the characters kept winning every soccer game. I disliked about that both characters had some arguments with each other. People that like soccer would like this book.

[Lupe Medina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about 2 girls named Izzy and Julia. They are on the girl's soccer team in the community. The girls are later threatened by a guy who damages and contaminates the field. So Izzy, Julia, and Drew tried to stop him. They gather clues and find the guy, so in order for them turn him over to the police. They take the jewels that they found in the old lot and later a guy comes to "steal" them and is later caught. Yay! I think I would give this book a 4 because I just loved the exciement and the mystery!

[Jabrielahmed]

the book kicker was an entertaining and mysteries book.it starts of when they are playing soccer then Izzy is being told to shoot she takes the shot but she misses so her friends comes and scores then everyone cheers for her best friend instead of her.so one day a boy threatens the team and their home field is sabotaged,they work together to find out who did it and they find him but someone else steal the jewellery so they find him and turn him in

[Britney Senger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it shows character between Izzy and Julia on the quest to find a mystery. Drew is a sweetheart to Izzy with help on everything. This book as some twists and turns learning new secrets and new people. This book to me seems different than the rest of the orca sports series. It is different in a good way though. I really like this book. I would recommend this book to anyone even if you hate soccer.

[Nico Jung]

I read Kicker by Michele Martin Bossley. The genre of this book is mystery. I reccomend this book for people who like soccer and mystery. Someone has vandalized the soccer fields. Izzy, Julia and Drew want to find out who did it, so they do some research and find out who it was. This book was really good; you should read it too.

[Jennah Mielke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book!!! It was awesome!!!!My favorite part is when Izzy finds the lead in the trash to prove that the field isnt contaminated and they continue to play soccer. My least favorite part is when Drew calls Julia a ball hog and Izzy and him get in a fight. Over all this book was amazing!!

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better Orca books.

[Samantha Martinez]

I really liked this book. I love the character Isabella's passion about soccer and how to save her teams assigned soccer field

[Kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book. It had a little mystery and soccer. Two things I love...

[Jorge]

its aight

[kv · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was pretty boring for me because I don't like soccer. Had a big problem in the story and it took forever to solve. reading level was way to easy.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have reluctant readers in your classes, the Orca books are the way to go. Engaging stories but easy to read. This book only had 143 pages; kids will like being able to finish a book quickly.

[Mika · Rating 5 out of 5]

favorite book! i love it, read it 5 times