Scarves And Sombreros
By Neil Montagnana-Wallace and Mark Schwarzer, Foreword by Pele
Mark Schwarzer may have swapped the Riverside for the bright lights of, er, Craven Cottage, but before he left, the big Aussie spent a lot of his free time writing the sequel to his co-authored children's book, Megs and the Vootball Kids, Scarves and Sombreros.
When we last caught up with Megs, he had formed a school football team, the Pennendale Wanderers, and was settling in to his new life in Australia.
Scarves and Sombreros chronicles the team's rise to supremacy in the league, the exciting possibility of a trip to England, and the surprising obstacles the team will have to overcome to achieve their dream of becoming Champions.
Predominantly created for young boys aged approximately 7-13 with a keen interest in football but who do not read a lot (Mark Schwarzer has said that if the books make one young boy improve his reading skills then he will have achieved his objective), the second book sticks to the easy to read but not dumbed-down style of its predecessor.
It is a delicate balancing act to write in a way that appeals to children without patronising them but the authors of Megs pull it off admirably.
Once again the text is broken up without interrupting the narrative, with league tables and fun facts about football presented as emails the characters send to each other.
Megs is an eleven year old boy who plays in midfield and dreams of becoming the next Steven Gerrard, something most young boys can relate to. The series nevertheless takes care not to alienate a possible female audience.
Pennendale Wanderers is a mixed team and the girls are just as good as the boys on the pitch and are equally important characters in the narrative.
In fact in Scarves and Sombreros, it is a young Muslim girl called Abda around whom most of the action revolves.
Now that the main characters are established, Schwarzer and Montagnana-Wallace have taken the opportunity to address issues of race, religion and culture clashes which directly affect the team.
The team stick together and fight the system when they recognise the injustice of their situation. These kids are pro-active and they achieve results, but they never become idealised or unlikeable.
There's a brief catch-up paragraph so that newcomers to the world of Megs and the Vootball Kids don't feel excluded, but equally the story of Scarves and Sombreros stands alone as an enjoyable piece of children's fiction.
Book Three, Megs and the Crazy Legs, is released in December 2008.
Fans of the series can find out more about the books and their two authors at the interactive website. This also includes galleries of Schwarzer's career and a section called 'Kids Stuff' with wallpapers, videos and tricks.
First published on www.ComeOnBoro.com on 30-5-08
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