Football Superstars: Ronaldo Rules

Simon Mugford and Dan Green’s new non-fiction series is perfect for young football fans, and this edition focuses on the most popular footballer of all.

Ronaldo’s fame is unparalleled and, despite playing abroad, he fascinates young football fans, having achieved legendary status through his incredible haul of achievements at club and country levels. This book equips children with everything they need to become the complete authority on CR7 and to win the popular playground debate: Messi versus Ronaldo.

There are plenty of aspects of Ronaldo’s fame to be explored, be it his goals, or his charity work, or even his personal hotel, and this book leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to seek out all the top Ronaldo secrets. There are chapters that are very loosely based around a theme, and the book succeeds in arranging an immensity of Ronaldo trivia in a way that is engaging, eye catching and fun. Pages are bursting with Christiano cartoons and calligrams, alongside lots of imaginatively displayed stats and graphs.

The book is designed in such a way that budding statisticians could pour over every page, happily memorising facts and figures, but it can also be flicked through more leisurely. It is easy to imagine it being passed around playgrounds, with friends pointing out their favourite sections to one another. The choice of information is good, too, with just enough information about Ronaldo as a person to add some interesting context, without getting in the way of all the juicy football facts!

Football is often sought as a hook to get reluctant readers into books, and the accessibility of this series will make it very popular with children who find longer, fiction stories challenging. However, it is also essential reading for super fans and football trivia lovers, who will enjoy the challenge of collecting the entire set.