Ten

by Shamini Flint

Ten-year-old Maya lives for soccer. But no one in her small seaside town in Malaysia shares her obsession: her brother prefers hockey, the girls at school think it's a boys' game, and her grandmother just wants her to be a 'good Indian girl', even though with pale skin and an English father she's already a disappointment. Maya has other problems too. Her parents are constantly arguing, the new girl at school is getting everyone in trouble, and, worst of all, Brazil has just lost the World Cup. But Maya is determined that none of this will stop her from becoming a professional soccer player - the only problem is she's never even kicked a ball...

Genres: Sports, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Soccer, Childrens

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Shamini Flint lives in Singapore with her husband and two children. She began her career in law in Malaysia and also worked at an international law firm in Singapore. She travelled extensively around Asia for her work, before resigning to be a stay-at-home mum, writer, part-time lecturer and environmental activist, all in an effort to make up for her 'evil' past as a corporate lawyer!

Shamini writes children's books with cultural and environmental themes including Jungle Blues and Turtle takes a Trip as well as the 'Sasha' series of children's books. She also writes crime fiction featuring the rotund Singaporean policeman, Inspector Singh. Singh travels around Asia stumbling over corpses and sampling the food ...

Reviews

[Grace Duffey · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read the book “Ten” I really enjoyed it because soccer is my passion. Getting to learn about this lovely girl’s experience made “Ten” a book to enjoy. Maya is a soccer expert and knows about every player. But, she’s never actually played. A reason I like this book is because Maya’s always wanted to play soccer to play soccer and when she tries she never gives up. Maya makes friends throughout the book which makes her personality shine.
I think that Maya’s personality is beautiful, glorious, and marvelous in this book. “Ten” has lots of ups and downs like, struggling to get the hang of soccer and when her parents fight which make the book even better. One thing you will see through this whole book is that Maya has tons of confidence. Maya is also a very sweet girl. This book is told from Maya’s perspective. My opinion is that her telling the story in this way was a great decision by the author.
I loved reading this precious book. I think this is a great book for a middle grade girl who loves soccer. It’s also an inspiring book. This is an extraordinary and lovely novel that people should read.

~Grace Duffey

[Sissi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my days, this book was wonderful. At first, I was getting tired of all the football-related comparisons and didn’t really want to read it that much anymore. But the second half of the book was simply beautiful. As a person in living in Malaysia, it felt so nice reading about the beaches in Kuantan and Nasi Lemak. But the second half of the book and the ending really made me cry (in a good way), I highly recommend this book to any girl who has a dream.

[Annmaree · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ten-year-old Maya lives for soccer. But no one in her small seaside town in Malaysia shares her obsession: her brother prefers hockey, the girls at school think it's a boys' game, and her grandmother just wants her to be a 'good Indian girl', even though with pale skin and an English father she's already a disappointment. Maya has other problems too. Her parents are constantly arguing, the new girl at school is getting everyone in trouble, and, worst of all, Brazil has just lost the World Cup. But Maya is determined that none of this will stop her from becoming a professional soccer player - the only problem is she's never even kicked a ball... " I read this awhile ago and pasted the review to remind me what it was about. I found the novel a little slow to begin with but it is worth persevering.

[ISLN (Int'l School Library Network) Singapore]

A 'little book with a big heart' about a little girl coming to terms with her parents divorce and her father moving away. She finds the strength to deal with the upheaval in her life through her love of football, the camaraderie of her team-mates and the support of her family.

Set in a small, seaside town in Malaysia and culminating in a denoument at Wembley Stadium, it is a touching, multi-cultural story of the universality of human values.

[Azura Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story about ten years old girl who loves football. I thought she is going to write all about football. Instead, she raised up some cultural issues being minority in this country. A good book to read to open wide eyes seeing the real Malaysian living in this country.

[Jaime Lopez · Rating 1 out of 5]

A girl named Maya likes soccer but, in her town boys play soccer only.
"Are you carrying the ball for your brother?What a helpful girl.""It's mine""Oh! Yours?...I thought it was a soccerball.""It is."Oh..."
This quotation is powerful because tit's showing sexism because the aunt is showing that girls are not allowed to play soccer.
Maya's parents fight all the time. She can't play soccer because she is a girl, and her town girls can't or are not allowed to play soccer, but boys are.Her family is poor,her dad doesn't have a job.At a point it's so difficult Maya's parent break up. Dad goes to England to find a job so he can send money.Meanwhile mom is trying to find a job in Malaysia too.

Inspirational:Because she plays soccer even if she is not allowed to. This rule doesn't stop her from being her self. "Rajiv has soccer coaching and he says other boys' schools have it too." This text was found in page #22 chapter #5. That the girls don't have a soccer coach or a soccer team . Because soccer is not allowed to play soccer because of it's religion.

Religion: In her religion girls are not allowed to play soccer . But boys are allowed and are the only people that can play. In Malaysia in 1986, soccer is"a boys game." This is founded in the book jacket. Next to the title.Boys are only allowed to play soccer. Because in Malaysia soccer is not a girl sport , or even a thing for girls.

Sports: This story is a soccer story and soccer is a sport.It talks about Brazilians, would cup and anything related to soccer.Ten a soccer story . This the title of the story . The captions in the front of the story says "My first soccerbal" and "Me! I'm going to be a soccer star."

A sport's fan or a girl.
Because Maya is a girl this is a inspirational book for girls. And for a soccer fans, this is a book for ya'll.

[Valerie McEnroe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book because there aren't enough good fiction books about soccer. The shelves are saturated with books about basketball, football, and baseball. Great books mind you, but it would be nice to have more on soccer.

Ten is about Maya, a girl living in Malaysia and obsessed with soccer. In Malaysia, girls are expected to be "proper," and focus on doing things that will attract a good husband. According to her grandmother, soccer is not one of those things. Maya doesn't listen. After her parents give her a soccer ball for her birthday, she takes it to school, and slowly girls begin joining in. Finally they have enough girls to form a team, and Maya gets to experience the excitement and pressure of her first game. While this is happening, Maya's parents drop the bomb that they are getting a divorce and her British father is moving back to England. Both she and her brother are upset about this, but Maya thinks she has the power to convince her dad to move back.

The reason I'm giving this book 2 stars is that the content is too dated for such a recent publication date. The World Cup players Maya is obsessed with are from the 80s. The author should have known to use more recent players that kids would know about. All the talk about behaving in ways that will attract a man is a turn-off, especially for girls who play sports. I realize the main character is bucking that norm, but she is definitely holding back in her protest. Lastly, the divorce part is over the top. It hi-jacks too much of the plot. There are three messages going on in this book. Get a man. Save your parent's marriage. Play soccer. Two negatives. One positive. Girls aren't going to go for this book.

[Emily Rubin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book called Ten, a soccer story by Shamini Flint one of the best books i have ever read! This book is good for people who like soccer and short stories that is about dream finding adventures.This book reminds me of one of my friends it tells a story about a young 12 year old girl named Maya. Maya is a big huge fan of soccer and she loves to watch soccer ,she has never actually played in the beginning of the story but toward the ending of the story the she had a chance to play and she won the game, now she has a chance to go to England to watch her favorite team. On the other hand her family broke apart and now she was trying to get her dad to come back to the family but it is unsuccessful. This genre of the story is realistic fiction and soccer. The setting of this story is in Malaysia in 1986. Some of parts of the story maya changes, in the middle of the story maya decided to make a soccer team for her school and she changed her attitude because she did not just want to sit around all day and watch she wanted to play. This story is all about Maya and how she trained herself to play soccer and how she loved soccer so much. This book describes what maya looks like and a description of her by saying she has brown hair and brown eyes.The main conflict in this story is character vs. character because when maya found out her dad is leaving she tries to find a way to bring him back but she had to just except that her dad was not going to come back. Another conflict that is in this book is conflict vs. society, maya is really into soccer and wants to be on a team except the school does not have one because they consider it a “boy”sport. The theme of this story is that you should never give up on what you want and chase your dreams.The mood of the story varies from happy to sad throughout the story. The tone of the story is confident because he is making the character confident.The word choices the author used were pretty good for some sentences, the author had interesting word choice. The author did not use have a special writing style because he did not use big actions. Overall this author did a tremendous job on this book because he put a lot of good ideas into the book which made it really interesting. I did not really like when the author did not put description in some parts and made it a little confusing but after a few times reading it over i understood what he was trying to say. I would recommend this book to people like really really like soccer.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

so much to love about this one: the protagonist (and family, and friends); the short chapters and their progression; the way you wonder what will happen along various strands even as you are content to just hang out in the company of Maya and learn more about her self, her family and her culture; the voice and tone of a charming and lively and earnest young person navigating some pretty difficult territory; the story doesn't take the easy way out, and it maintains the integrity of the characters (whether you care for them or not); the balance of optimism and realism. Flint covers a lot of ground and neither rushes beyond or lingers too long. I adore the use of soccer in similes; it is so natural to the voice and it allows for some refreshing new descriptions to situation and expression.

this is an obvious choice for soccer fans (of any age, really), but I would recommend this for book club. Flint offers plenty in the way of conversation and while the story shares its thoughts, it doesn't oversimplify or tell the reader how to think about something--it just tells a story.

TEN calls to mind Kate DiCamillo (a good thing) in characterization and her protagonist's personality, but in the end, TEN feels like a story that only Shamini Flint could tell and I love this feeling--the book is that well attuned to teller and reader (listener).

so effortlessly enjoyable.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flint, Sahmini Ten: A Soccer Story, 155 pages. Clarion, 2015. $6. Language: G (o swears); Mature Content: PG(mentions of drunk streaking); Violence: G.

Maya is a young soccer fan living in Malaysia with her complicated family. She decides its finally time she plays soccer –but its easier said than done. Not only is it considered a boys sport, but her family isn’t exactly made of money and soccer equipment is expensive, adding to the complications is that there are no other girl soccer players or teams. But Maya persists, and through some luck –ends up with a soccer team and even a tournament to play in!

This book only slowly ramps up to the soccer portion –which may be off putting to soccer fans who are reading it for the sports component. It’s more of a realistic fiction story about a tenacious girl, real life family issues, bullying, and bravery. Also its fairly rare to have a diverse character that also features cultural information in seamless way -mostly I just see token diverse characters who are either not featured on the cover or are not in touch with their heritage. I would add this to my library.

EL– ADVISABLE Stephanie, Elementary School Librarian & Author
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...

[Dan Allbery · Rating 3 out of 5]

The year is 1986 and 11 year old Maya is a soccer-obsessed kid who lives for her #1 who is actually #10, Zico--a world famous soccer player. Despite being half English-half Malaysian, she cannot get enough of the Brazilian national team and their star player. But as she watches more and more, the hunger inside her grows to not just watch, but to play. However, her all-girls school doesn't have a team, and she doesn't even have a ball. Yet, she has passion and drive and that is enough to start on anyone's dream.

As a teacher in Thailand, I am forever hunting for SE Asian books and was excited to find this one. I have plenty of soccer (or some would argue, futbol) fans in my classroom and this text may be a hit. I especially loved that it is a shorter, accessible text, one that all my students can read. Too often, classroom libraries are "high" and this book ticks the box of inclusion. The plot is simple, but important. A few years ago I read Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez and loved it. This reads as a more middle grade version of that YA book. Recommended for GR 4-6 (or 7).

[Leslie Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great little book. Not at all what I expected. Maya is a soccer crazed 11 yo in Malaysia in 1986. She starts a soccer team at her all girls school and teaches herself to play. Her English father and Indian mother announce that they are getting a divorce and Maya hatches a plan to get her father to come back. Lots of 1986 World Cup soccer play by play. Although soccer is featured prominently, I think the book would appeal to non sports kids too.

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book set in a small town in Malaysia about a girl named Maya who loves soccer but has never played it for herself. I enjoyed reading about how she got a soccer ball, and how she convinced her school mates to join her and build their own all-girls soccer team. We need more sports stories set outside the United States with girl protagonists, and I'm glad this book is out in the world!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A girl named Lem or Lemonade moves to a rural town Willow Creek, CA when her mother dies and goes to live with grandpa. Lots of small events happen that help Lem heal from her tragedy and a search for Bigfoot continues with a friend. The story has some charm and keeps it light but there just isn't much here.

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a charming little book -- I like that Maya and her brother are very realistic -- no sugarcoating their sibling rivalry and the fighting in their family dynamics. The story as a whole feel a lot like wish fulfillment, but I enjoyed the setting in Malaysia and the autobiographical characteristics. Good fun.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an oregon battle of the books I read with the kids. It's funny and light and touches on some hard topics in a thoughtful way while sticking you into the characters love of soccer. We all loved it

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly deep look into a complex social situation for young readers. Aimed a little simpler and younger than most middle-grade books, Ten tells a story of perseverance, family, and the messy nature of relationships in an approachable way.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about a young girl who becomes a big football star. Bits of sadness in the book but in the end SHE is the most important person in the book and SHE becomes successful. :-)

[Mandy Perret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the female character and the connection to soccer. I thought that that would be interesting but found the plot sort of uninteresting. I felt it might be better accepted by younger audiences.

[Madi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok book. Not my favorite but still interesting.

[Landon · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a good book but it was very fast pased, I felt like I could not understand the story very well. It was like Goal after goal. Also It was full of charaters that were never explained that well. But overall the story was funny and cool how I could relate because I play Soccer.

[Anastasia Tuckness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read about a girl who loves soccer and is determined to play it--even though most people around her don't know what it is! Based a little bit on the author's life.

[Charlotte Polking · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was short and simple but a good book

[Sandhya Acharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, fun read.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

OBOB read

[Quinn Grassel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it was good. I like the end of the book. A good story line with the family and her soccer journey. I think that the middle is a little slow but other than that it was well paced. 8/10

[superawesomekt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battle of the Books 2022-2023

I really liked this one! Sadly, it was difficult enough to find that it was removed from the state competition, but my son's school will still use it locally. (It was easy for me to find on Thriftbooks though!)

I loved, loved, loved basketball as a girl, so I really related to Maya's love of soccer. I had so many intense moments watching games... So much love for the game. This was a read that gave me some nostalgia. I have a feeling my sports-loving 9 year old will like this one.

I liked the humor woven throughout, even though there are some difficult plot points here and there.

Full List of 2022-23 OBOB selections 3-5 Grades
Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Wish in the Dark ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Measuring Up ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ten ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (dropped from regional / state because not widely available)
Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring ⭐⭐⭐
Life of Zarf: The Trouble with Weasels ⭐⭐⭐
The Best of Iggy ⭐⭐⭐
Snapdragon ⭐⭐
Shirley & Jamila Save Their Summer ⭐⭐
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart
Rescue on the Oregon Trail
From the Desk of Zoe Washington
Harbor Me
Spark
Kinda Like Brothers
Letters from Cuba

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story involves a young Brazillian girl who ADORES soccer, and has the gumption to start up a girls soccer team, in a time and area when "girls don't play soccer". We are brought into her family difficulties and how she tries to solve them. It is a well written book with excellent character development, showing growth in her and her brother, seeing how her team came together to play good soccer.

Maya, an odd ball girl, eleven years old, learning to stand up for herself, and for her family. Learning to love up on her expanded family even if they don't "get her". It's a nice book that should appeal to a broad range. :) It's a good upper elementary/middle school book.

[Cleffairy Cleffairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed at: Over A Cuppa Tea
Review date: 21 April 2013
Review link:http://cleffairy.com/?p=8998


I was really excited when I saw this book in my mailbox the other day. It’s been awhile since I received a paperback for reviewing purpose ever since I moved in to the new (but inconvenient) place. This book was sent to me by the author Shamini Flint herself. I’m not sure if any of you remembered her or not, but I’ve blogged about her last year. She’s well noted for her ‘Inspector Singh’ series, and to say that I have high expectation on her books is an understatement.

This book is not a part of her famous Inspector Singh series, but a standalone Children/YA fiction. Yup. You got it right. A children book. It’s been awhile since I devoured a children book for escapism purpose, and I was expecting something really light, something that could take my mind off from things, but to my surprise, this book does not have the same effect on me.

This book is more like a coming of age book where the story is about a girl who loves playing football but lives in a conservative society where playing football is frowned upon, and she practically had to fight in order not to succumb to society’s expectation on her.

Quite a serious story, and so, I followed the girl’s journey with immense interest and I have to say that I could relate with her, even though I’m a child no more. I suppose, like the protagonist, I too have dreams that I feel hard to achieve because of the ‘roadblocks’ in the form of family, relatives and friends.

There’s plenty of things you can learn from this book, and that include perseverance and not sticking to the status quo. I definitely recommend this book to both parents and children alike, and could easily rate this book a 4 star out of 5 star. Recommended reading for children of 8 years and above.

I received a review copy of this book from Shamini Flint herself. I was not compensated in any ways for writing this review.

[Nova · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful story suitable for primary school students about a Malay girl, Maya, obsessed by soccer. She dreams of one day playing in a world cup final, but attending a girl's Catholic school where there is only netball, and not even owning a soccer ball seem to be insurmountable obstacles. This book is not only about soccer but also touches on colonialism, racism and family issues. There are some amusing passages to lighten the mood of an otherwise serious but good book.