Hardcover. NY, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. SIGNED BY SIS on copyright page with bird sketch. Madlenka has a brand-new soccer ball and aspirations to be a soccer star. As she dribbles it around her urban neighborhood, she encounters plenty of opponents willing to play with her: A mailbox, a dog, and a parking meter. She plays with a group of cats at the local park with a tree acting as a goal, of which she easily scores. Goal!! The crowd goes wild! She meets of with Cleopatra who also wants to play. "Are you ready?" Madlenka asks and off they go. The author's thin black line illustrations give a an overhead perspective of the soccer field surrounded by tall buildings as other neighborhood children come to join the game. In the back of the book, Sis gives a history lesson about the early versions of soccer along with how soccer is pronounced by countries all over the world because "The whole world wants to play soccer!"
