'I play for North Star Galaxy and this is the story of our first season. I don't know how it's going to end - but I hope it will be at the World Cup Finals this summer! I'm going to tell you everything that happens - the truth - however painful that might be.' Charlie loves football. He watches it, memorizes facts about it, and he's even the captain of the local youth team, North Star Galaxy. When Charlie discovers that youth teams are being selected to play in exhibition matches at the World Cup tournament later that year he decides to enter North Star. There's one problem. He's got to prove that North Star deserve a place at the tournament and that's not easy when your team are kind of rubbish at football! This book takes the form of Charlie's competition entry for his team to play a warm-up match at the World Cup - it's crammed with hilarious doodles, true facts, and match reports, and is totally accessible for boys, girls, reluctant readers, and footie-mad kids everywhere!

 

There are 224 pages in this book. This book was published 2014 by Oxford University Press .

Dave's short story THE FLOODLIGHT MAN was broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live, and an extract from FIFTEEN DAYS WITHOUT A HEAD was one of the winning stories featured in the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Anthology in 2010. He is the author of the CHARLIE MERRICK series and WAITING FOR GONZO. Originally from Birmingham, Dave now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and family, in a house full of books and records. Visit www. www. davecousins. net | @DaveCousins9000 Catalina has studied graphic design and children's book illustration in Milan and Cambridge. She is originally from Bogota, Colombia but now lives in the UK. Visit www. cataecheverri. com | @cataverri