Jumping on the bandwagon of the World Cup! Willy the Wizard by Anthony Browne

Now, I'm not the world's biggest football fan, I don't like the culture surrounding the overpaid players and I think that they should pay more attention to the fact that they are role models for young children. But I do follow Norwich City (sob, they've just gone down to the Championship) and the fact that the World Cup starts today (my husband has pinned a chart up - it's ruining my decor!) has not passed me by. So after a very long preamble (and slight rant), sorry about that, hope you're still with me! I thought that it might be nice to feature a picture book about football. The Willy books by Anthony Browne are big favourites in our house and Willy the Wizard is a particularly good one.

Willy loves football and is desperate to play but he doesn't have any boots and is never picked for the team. Then one night he's given some boots by a mysterious stranger and all of a sudden his luck begins to change. It's a great story and the illustrations are superb, as you'd expect! This book also draws beautifully on the superstitions that some sportspeople can have. And I think it really does portray football as a beautiful game, which it can be!