Max Explains Everything: Soccer Expert

Max Explains Everything #2

by Stacy McAnulty, Deborah Hocking (Illustrator)

This hilarious, tongue-in-cheek guide from kid-expert Max reveals everything you need to know about the game of soccer.

Max knows a lot about soccer. After all, he's been playing it for almost three weeks! So he's pretty much an expert. Here Max shares his one-of-a-kind helpful tips including how to warm up (stretch, twirl, somersault), who's who on the field (the ref is in yellow and wears a whistle--you should not bring your own whistle), and what to do with your hands since you can't touch the ball (wave at fans, hide them in your shirt, play itsy-bitsy spider). But could Max possibly be forgetting something very important? Full of humor, energy, and warmth, Max Explains Everything: Soccer Expert is the perfect read aloud for novice players as well as for fellow "kid experts" on the game.

Want more fun with Max? Don't miss Max Explains Everything: Grocery Store Expert.

Genres: Picture Books, Sports, Humor, Soccer, Childrens, Fiction, How To

32 pages, Hardcover

Published February 19, 2019

About the author

Stacy McAnulty is a children’s book author, who used to be a mechanical engineer, who’s also qualified to be a paleontologist (NOT REALLY), a correspondent for The Daily Show (why not), and a Green Bay Packer coach (totally!). She is the 2017 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Honor Recipient for Excellent Ed, illustrated by Julia Sarcone-Roach. Her other picture books include Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years, illustrated by David Litchfield; Brave and Beautiful, both illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff; Mr. Fuzzbuster Knows He’s the Favorite, illustrated by Edward Hemingway; and 101 Reasons Why I’m Not Taking a Bath, illustrated by Joy Ang. She’s also authored the chapter book series Goldie Blox, based on the award-winning toys, and The Dino Files. Her debut middle grade novel, The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl, will publish in 2018. When not writing, Stacy likes to listen to NPR, bake triple-chocolate cupcakes, and eat triple-chocolate cupcakes. Originally from upstate NY, she now lives in Kernersville, NC with her 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 1 husband.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max sure knows a lot about soccer. He knows all the rules and what to do and bring or not bring with him. We see him getting ready for the game. What I really like about Max is that when it’s time to play the game, he’s talking about finding bugs and moving them out of the way. He loves to pose for pictures as parents snap them. He does everything really well accept kick the ball. He is oblivious. It is a joy to watch him. He knows all about the game, but he doesn’t really understand how to actually play. His teammates are kicking the ball around him. They are used to him. He makes a great cheer leader on the sidelines. He is supportive.

This little comedy brought joy and giggles to me. Max reminds me of my nephew. He would be more this way, doing his own thing and not being focused enough to be a very good player. Max is interested in being outside with friends and nature, just not the game. It’s a brilliant little book on soccer. It gets the facts on how to play out there in a funny way. Great book.

The nephew liked Max. He doesn’t care for soccer at all. He likes to run around wild. He also loves bugs and roly polies and he thought max was cool and funny. He related to Max while reading this. He thought this was a funny story. He rated this 3 stars.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Max, young boy expert in practically everything, returns in this follow-up to his initial adventure, Max Explains Everything: Grocery Store Expert , this time turning to the subject of soccer. Whilst his teammates pitch in to play a game, the gentle and slightly clueless Max narrates what one should do during said game. But despite the many times his mother calls for him to "kick the ball," the one thing he doesn't cover is actually playing the sport...

Like its predecessor, I found this guidebook-style picture-book quite a hoot! Max Explains Everything: Soccer Expert offers a humorous depiction of the eponymous Max, who is happily interested in everything about his soccer game except the soccer. Although there isn't quite the same back-and-forth dialogue as in the first book, the same humorous effect is created through Max's mother's frequent calls for him to "kick the ball," and the accompanying illustrations, which show him blithely ignoring everything but his little narrative about flowers, waving one's hands and so on. Recommended to little league sports participants who are there more for the fun than the competition.

[Raven Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical story of Explaining Max

[Shaye Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has Stacy McAnulty written a bad children's book? I think not. This is book #2 of the Max Explains Everything series. Max has been playing soccer for three whole weeks, so he kinda knows a lot about the game.  He definitely knows about cleats and shin guards and how to stretch and how to tell who the ref is. But when it comes to actually playing the game, Max is noticeably distracted by ladybugs, posing for the camera, the clouds, the birds, Jose's haircut, a loose dog, and even his own fingers! Max Explains Everything is an adorable little book that will be enjoyed by young and old, including any new soccer players in your life! The illustrations in this book were created with gouache and colored pencil on Arches watercolor paper, then digitally manipulated.

For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Max does everything except actually play soccer: look for worms in the grass, stare at clouds overhead, wave to the audience...
Very cute and funny.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both avid sports fans and ambivalent sports participants will get a "kick" out of this cute picture book that shares "the most important" tips about playing soccer. Max has been playing on the soccer team for a few weeks and is now an expert on the game - how to dress, the kinds of plants and insects you'll find on the soccer team, the best snacks to eat during games, how to wave for photographs. He seems to overlook the most crucial aspects of gameplay - kicking the ball! Young readers will definitely giggle with this one. This could be a good mentor text for young writers looking to create their own "expert guides".

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sports book for a non-sports kid. Max explains everything about soccer while - in the pictures - definitely failing to play soccer. It's a fun dual story with the text and pictures telling different tales.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the combination of silliness and reality in this book. It was a sweet story and had nice illustrations.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite of the Max Explains Everything books. Young readers will enjoy watching Max do everything but play soccer. Adults will recall their own or their children's time of exploration with fondness and hilarity.

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Choose this at the library for my two-year-old because he loves anything with a ball, but this was an unexpectedly enjoyable find, and I did not mind that we read it at least 50 times and had to renew it once. Max is the kind of sports player that I would be had I ever played sports, and that all of my kids have been at some point in their rec sports experiences. C. loved all the sports parts, but once we explained the joke (that Max never actually kicks the ball), he had fun laughing at that as well. I also think the pictures are beautiful and a neat use of colored pencils.

I didn't realize that this is the same author who wrote this year's Black-Eyed Susan nominee The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl until we had read it several times, so I'm looking forward to that book even more now. Also, I enjoyed the dedication to the Kernersville (NC) rec league since our family drove through Kernersville many times when we lived in Durham to go visit family in the mountains.

As a picture book to enjoy with the family, this one hit all the right notes for me.

[Jillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Max is..... definitely not ready for team sports. Or at least not soccer.
It's a cute idea, and it's great that the adults in his life just let him be himself, but..... I don't know, I just didn't find it as funny as I was supposed to.
It actually reminded me a lot of being stuck out in left field during softball when I was a kid - picking dandelions and looking for bugs - but I *wanted* to be playing, the coach just couldn't be bothered to teach us anything so everybody who didn't already have a couple years' experience got put in the outfield. Whereas Max just needs to find a different activity, since soccer is clearly not holding his interest the way he thinks it is.

[Kate Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grades K-4. This books is an awesome tie-in for narrative writing. A child takes something they have expertise in (soccer) and explains what it's like to play the sport. Told in first person, the child shares what they did at practice, what game days are like, the kinds of things that happen on the field, etc. With so many children playing soccer, this book will resonate and serve as a mentor text.

[Chris Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to help teach the ultra-competitive different ways of seeing the world. I think the artwork lends the most to the details of the plot and what is happening. I appreciate the coach and the mom as social emotion competent and caring adults. This will be hard to use for teaching with a whole class, yet is a great book.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book. I actually haven't read any of these before. I thought it would be a cute book that actually explained soccer, but instead it explains what "non" soccer players do when they play soccer. Haha! Some kids will relate though.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max is a soccer expert. He's been playing for three weeks. Max shares his helpful tips that include warming up before the game, taking turns and sitting on the side and cheering on your teammates. But could Max be forgetting something important......

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max is learning to play soccer, but actually enjoys things completely unrelated to the sport (looking for bugs on the field, posing for pictures, eating snacks, etc). This pretty much sums up my childhood soccer experience.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this story would show Max explaining the rules for playing soccer and how he excels at it. But it was a fun romp with Max telling what you need to do and then he shows how distractible he is when playing the game. Reminds me of my son and the acceptance Max is given is great.

[The Book Box]

Mama and I read this because I love Stacy McAnulty's space books, and wanted to read more by her. I'm in a soccer club at school so I'm pretty much as expert as Max, too.

[Syntha Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun intro to soccer, and the literal readers can always point out the what not to do aspects that are funny here

[SJ Kid's Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, tongue in cheek story about the reality of young kids playing sports (especially relatable as a parent who's watched from the sidelines).

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great example to show kids how the pictures of a book can tell a very different story from the text.

Cute.

[Mary Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max is delightfully clueless. The very definition of an unreliable narrator. Kids will love this.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hilarious book that will crack up any kid who has ever played on an organized team. Adults will love the chance to talk about perspective, too. I LOVE this book!

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guessI liked this better than the grocery store expert, but not enough to recommend buying it.

[Danica Midlil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed out loud as I read my first Max Explains Everything book and absolutely saw my young son and daughter as they played soccer and baseball/softball those first couple of years. Max focuses on the very most important aspects of the game, the butterflies zooming around him, the amazing clouds floating by, the cool uniform and, of course, the snack at the end. There is a bit of talk about not using your hands and of kicking the ball (which Max never does), but this is clearly a book written by a mom who has watched many a small child sporting event. Sure, caregivers will try and steer their children towards seeing what Max should’ve been doing, but in the end, all will be chuckling, especially when there is more excitement when the team mom passes out the end of game goodies than when the game was happening. Outstanding realistic illustrations by Deborah Hocking were done with gouache and colored pencil and then digitally manipulated. Representation: The children pictured playing soccer display a wide variety of hair and skin colors. Would’ve like to have seen some variation in body shapes and possibly a child wearing glasses or displaying some sort of adaptive equipment. Highly recommended for collections serving those in PK-grade 3 and would also suggest searching out Max’s take on grocery shopping and puppies.

[Lindsey Kult · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hilarious book for budding soccer players. Max really does a great job explaining all of the great things that come with playing soccer: snacks, posing for photos, picking dandelions, looking for ladybugs. He does it all! Except for touch the ball, but is that really important?

It was a big hit at my soccer themed storytime!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having watched 2 sons and 5 grandsons through more soccer games than I can count, I crackeedd up over this delightful and oh-so-accurate picture of little kids playing soccer.

Not sure how I have missed Max the expert but I want to seek out the others.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max reminds me of my younger self. I played soccer and little league baseball with the same attention to the field conditions as him. Dandelion removal is important to the overall enjoyment of the experience. I'm glad he was so committed.

[Lauri Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max knows all about soccer, he has been playing for 3 weeks after all. But the ladybugs and weeds and clouds can be distracting, the fans need entertained, and his hands need to do something. And perhaps he actual forgets to kick the ball …