Soccer Sam

by Jean Marzollo

In a perceptive tale of friendship and sports, this multicultural early reader shows how Sam's visiting Mexican cousin overcomes the language barrier by teaching soccer to his new friends.

Genres: Sports, Childrens, Soccer, 2nd Grade

48 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Jean Marzollo was an American children's author and illustrator best known for the I Spy series, a best-selling and award-winning collection written entirely in rhythm and rhyme and illustrated by Walter Wick. Over her career, she wrote more than 100 books for children, parents, and educators, including Help Me Learn Numbers 0-20, The Little Plant Doctor, and Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King. Born and raised in Connecticut, she graduated from the University of Connecticut and earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She taught high school English and later worked in educational publishing, serving for 20 years as editor of Scholastic’s Let’s Find Out Magazine. Later in life, she began illustrating her own books.

Reviews

[Dizasteroyale · Rating 5 out of 5]

its a bout a mexican in a white mans world. even in the 4th grade i knew what was up.

[Annie Flanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book. It is about two young boys - Sam and Marco. Sam lives in the United States while his cousin Marco lives in Mexico.


Marco comes to visit and live with Sam and his family for a year.


At first Marco feels out of place. None of Sam's friends play soccer. But soon he teaches them.

By the end of the book there is a game between the second graders - Sam's class and the third graders. The good guys win.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently in the 1980s 2nd graders didn't know what soccer was.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your soccer players will enjoy reading this story! And there's a bonus: you'll learn a few Spanish words along the way. This could be a nice segue into language lessons.

Reading Level: 2nd - 3rd grades

Cleanliness: A boy gets embarrassed by his cousin's actions. Third graders tease the second graders. The word "stupid" is used.

**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam's cousin from Mexico is coming to live with him for a year. Marco doesn't speak English and Sam doesn't speak Marco's language. They try and find things that intrest the both of them but can't quite figure out things. Sam really enjoys his sports but Marco doesn't know how to accurately play them. Until they find a soccer ball at a store. Then they find something they both enjoy. Marco teaches Sam to play, and the entire 2nd grade! A good story to help children understand that it's important to understand one another regardless of where we came from and our differences.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

David found an idea that nobody knew what soccer was until Mexican kid showed up utterly ridiculous. We decided that it must have taken place on the different planet. Taken that aside it was on OK story.

[Cws]

JEAR2-Mar