Presents the life and accomplishments of Pelâe, the Brazilian who has been called the king of soccer. - (Baker & Taylor)

This inspirational picture book biography follows a young, poor boy named Edson as he overcomes many challenges and obstacles in his life to become the world champion soccer star Pelé. - (Baker & Taylor)

HOW DID A POOR BOY named Edson—who kicked rocks down roads and dribbled balls made from rags—go on to become Pelé, the greatest soccer player of all time? While other kids memorized letters, Edson memorized the scores of soccer matches. And when Edson finally played in a youth soccer tournament in the town of Bauru, Brazil, he focused on only one thing from the moment the whistle blew: the goal.

Here is the picture book biography of the boy who overcame tremendous odds to become the world champion soccer star Pelé.

Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome are the author and illustrator of Satchel Paige and Major Taylor, Champion Cyclist. James is also the illustrator of Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson, an ALA Notable Book and Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book; Creation, which won a Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration; and Let My People Go by Patricia C. McKissack, winner of an NAACP Image Award. They live in Poughkeepsie, New York. - (Random House, Inc.)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* With handsome oil paintings and a stirring story, this picture-book biography will first grab children with its action. Just as exciting, though, is the account of Brazilian-born Pelé's personal struggle—his amazing rise from poverty to international soccer stardom. The focus is on Pelé's childhood in Bauru, Brazil, in the 1940s and early 1950s. The pictures show him in his multiracial community, especially on the soccer field. He is punished for not paying attention in class; then he gives up school altogether to play soccer. His team, the Shoeless Ones, play barefoot; the ball is a sock stuffed with rags. The kids shine shoes and sell peanuts, until they earn enough for uniforms and second-hand shoes. Inspired by his dad, Pelé plays hard and is chosen as the team captain, and in a triumphant climax, he scores the winning goal in a big youth tournament. An afterword fills in the facts about how Edson (Pelé was a nickname) went on to become the greatest soccer player ever known.The small painting of the team's battered second-hand shoes is a moving testament to its struggle, particularly in contrast to the final triumphant pages when Pelé kicks the ball straight into the goal. Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

Before there was Becks, before there was Mia, before every kid in suburbia started playing soccer in kindergarten, there was PelŽ. Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in 1940, the Brazilian boy learned to play soccer barefoot using a ball made of a rag-stuffed sock tied with string; by the time he was seventeen, he was competing in the World Cup and leading Brazil to its first-ever victory. Cline-Ransome's (Satchel Paige, rev. 3/00) picture-book biography details the boy's obsessive love of the game (to the detriment of his schoolwork and to his mother's distress); his loyalty to his ragtag team, AmŽriquinha; and his speed, agility, and remarkable eye -- or would that be foot? -- for the goal. Cline-Ransome's text is focused and cohesive; she admirably sticks to the facts (we still can only speculate as to the origins of the nickname PelŽ) while pulling the reader into the drama of Edson's struggles and triumphs. Ransome's lush oil paintings, if unsuitably static for his subject, nicely incorporate the famous blue and yellow of AmŽriquinha's -- and Brazil's -- team colors, foreshadowing PelŽ's dominance in world soccer. Copyright 2007 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

While eight-year-old Edson do Nascimento's classmates are learning the alphabet and math, he is dreaming about playing soccer. Edson is small for his age, but he's determined and obsessed. He and his neighborhood friends form a team they name "September 7" after Brazil's day of independence. They work hard and earn money for uniforms, but there's not enough for shoes. The father of three of the boys volunteers to be their coach and gets some used shoes donated. Pelé's father, a former soccer player, also helps his son train. Edson, now Pelé, and his team improve and go on to win their game in the youth soccer tournament. An inspiring and indomitable subject and beautiful oils depicting Brazil's diverse population help overcome a rather flat narrative that tells the story of one very poor kid who made good. Missteps along the way—he gets his nickname early on, but it isn't given meaning until the author's note; suddenly, after several mentions of the ball made of rags, there's a real ball, but no explanation; there are no resources or further reading offered; imagined conversations—mar a story that will still have appeal to young soccer fans. (Picture book. 4-9) Copyright Kirkus 2007 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Reviews

K-Gr 2— Edson Arantes do Nascimento, son of a former soccer player and better known as Pel, is the colorful subject of this picture-book biography. Born in Brazil, Pel knew that soccer was to be an important sport in his life from his early years. He formed a team of shoeless, uniform-less friends who regularly played with a ball made from a sock stuffed with rags and tied with string. Focusing on these early years, the author describes the athlete's thrill when he scored a goal in a youth soccer tournament. Ransome's vividly colored, deeply saturated oil paintings create dramatic scenes that contribute to the action of the game. Endpapers of a Brazilian forest establish the evocative mood. This book is for younger readers than Caroline Arnold's Pel: The King of Soccer (Watts, 1992).—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA