We specialise in football books for kids. Our debut title World At Your Feet - celebrating the best goals scored in global international football tournaments - was published in 2018, while Europe At Your Feet - featuring the greatest goals from European summer tournaments - came out in late 2020.
So, why did we start publishing football books for kids? Well, compared to other topics and in proportion to its popularity among young people, football has not been particularly well served by the publishing industry. In particular, football picture books were conspicuous by their absence.
Young readers could enjoy a wide range of books featuring fun, rhyming verses and beautiful illustrations about most topics, but football books of this kind were very thin on the ground. Perhaps assumptions about the level of interest in reading among people with an interest in football had resulted in this group being overlooked.
Whatever the reasons, we set about correcting this and making our own football books for kids.
Why buy football books for kids?
Making reading fun
Reading is so important for kids’ development, and reading for pleasure is a valuable way of ensuring that picking up a book becomes a fun activity, not just a compulsory chore. With so many youngsters enthralled by the beautiful game, football books for kids are a great way of encouraging reading among little football fanatics. Certainly, we would like to think that’s true of our football books for kids World At Your Feet and Europe At Your Feet.
And there is a double-whammy at play here. Although we’re generalising to a degree, it is probably fair to say that many children who are football mad would be happier with a ball at their feet than with a book in their hands. Football books for kids help to blur those distinctions and convince some reluctant readers that books are for them.
Building bonds between children and parents
What we really wanted to create was football books for kids and their parents to be able to enjoy together. There is something special about the cross generational appeal of football books. It is one of the few topics for a children’s book about which the parent might be equally as passionate as the child.
Yes, we can all enjoy a well-written children’s book about dinosaurs, princesses, knights, space and puppies. But in our heart of hearts, the majority of us are probably not quite as excited about these things as we were when we were kids. Perhaps the same is also true of football… but the margins are much closer. Football does stir strong emotions among grown-ups and children alike, which is one of the reasons why football books for kids are so enjoyable for adults to read. Not only are adult readers often just as enamoured with the subject matter as their children, there is also a special bond that can be formed or strengthened around the shared interest.
Some of the wonderful feedback we’ve received about our football books for kids suggests that World At Your Feet and Europe At Your Feet are being read in exactly the way we hoped.
Spark an educational journey
Reading the book might be just the starting point for an educational adventure. The feedback we’ve had from teachers and parents is that World At Your Feet and Europe At Your Feet are both useful tools for explorations of maths, rhyme and poetry, geography and independent research. We’ve also seen the outstanding results when children have been asked to use our books as the starting point to write their own football poetry and create their own football illustrations. We know that World At Your Feet has even been used as an accompaniment to a reflexology class at a special school in London, so there are lots of possibilities.
The beauty of football books for kids is that they instantly draw a lot of children into the world. Once they are in, you can take them almost anywhere you like and they will be with you for the journey. All sorts of subjects take on a new appeal when seen through the prism of football.
What are the best football books for kids?
The best football books for your children will be dependent on a few factors, including their age and the type of books they enjoy.
First of all, let’s throw our own books into the mix. Both World At Your Feet and Europe At Your Feet are picture books that recreate famous goals in rhyming verse and beautiful illustrations. We know they are enjoyed by readers of all ages (not least parents), but the majority of our readers probably fall into the 6-10 age group. We don’t want to blow our own trumpet too much, so we’ll give some parents the final word on our books.
"Some great moments in history captured in a story book, so kids and adults alike can enjoy it." -- Daisy Upton, Fiveminutemum
“One for the football fans, this book is so beautifully illustrated! It’s one of those that Toby is enjoying reading with his dad but looking at by himself as well. The football fanatic’s dream!” -- Harriet Shearsmith, Toby and Roo
For older readers, Tom and Matt Oldfield’s Ultimate Football Heroes series and Matt Oldfield’s Unbelievable Football are always popular, as are Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton's Football School books. Another great option is Tom Palmer and his Football Academy books.
For hardcover encyclopaedia-type football books, look no further than The Big Book of Football by Mundial or Fantastic Footballers by Jean-Michel Billioud.
Where to buy football books for kids?
All of the football books for kids mentioned in this article, including our own, are available from Amazon and bookshops (where they will either be in stock or available to order). We probably speak for other publishers when we say we appreciate you buying directly from us.
If you’d like to do so you can buy World At Your Feet and Europe At Your Feet here.