Booked by Kwame Alexander

 Nick Hall and best friend Coby are obsessed with soccer, the 12 year olds play it online and Nick spends time daydreaming about soccer at school but they are also talented players on rival teams and very competitive; both get invited to play at an event in Dallas. Nick’s father, a linguistics professor, thinks that academic excellence and a large vocabulary will provide a competitive edge in life so insists on Nick reading and learning words from his dictionary, as a consequence Nick has come to hate books but manages to slip interesting words into his thoughts and conversations. Nick and Coby have made a pact “Ninth grade is five months from now when you and Coby have vowed to have a girlfriend or die” p. 29. But other things intrude into their soccer and girlfriend dreams including schoolwork, being dobbed in by teacher’s pet and bullying. Dealing with mean twin bullies is one thing but what floors Nick is the unexpected separation of his parents and when illness strikes, preventing him playing soccer, it seems his whole life is an irredeemable mess.

This graphic version of Kwame Alexander’s verse novel explodes with energy and the reader soon slips into the rhythm of the verse. Dawud Anyabwile’s simple, strong, monochrome cartoon characters and varied layout move the story on at a fast pace keeping up with the varying size of the text in black on white, white on black, bold and outline, anything to enhance the dynamics of each page. The characters are well developed with some great supporting roles like the ex-rapper librarian and a mum who likes ping pong. They really are supporting roles, friends, family, teachers and a counsellor support Nick. The story is told entirely from Nick’s perspective and it is good to see how he learns to wield the power of language in expressing himself, including a lot of interesting words; usefully definitions are included. Nick’s challenges, many of which will be familiar to middle school students, feel real and there are no simple solutions offered but strategies to help deal with them. This funny, accessible book is sure to be picked up by soccer fans who want to see why Nick was “booked” but they risk getting caught up in a love of books and inadvertently increase their vocabulary. This would be a great book to read out loud, (some examples of the author reading can be found on Youtube) and it would be sure to prompt some interesting discussion.

Themes: Soccer, Friendship, Family breakdown, Reading, Verse.

Sue Speck