©Reading Rockets
Author: Kwame Alexander
Publisher: Andersen Press
Twelve-year-old Nick is a football-mad boy who absolutely hates books. Football, family, love, and friendship take centre stage as Nick tries to figure out how to navigate his parents’ break-up, stand up to bullies, and impress the girl of his dreams. These challenges – which seem even harder than scoring a tie-breaking, game-winning goal – change his life, as well as his best friend’s. This energetic novel-in-verse by the poet Kwame Alexander captures all the thrills and setbacks, the action and emotion of a World Cup match.
Southwark Book Awards 
An amazing,amazing book i am just lost for words… beautifully written although the cliff hanger was slightly aggravating. All i want to do is read more of the book 9/10
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I have never read Kwame Alexander before but Booked was a brilliant book. It is about how a boy called Nick overcomes his parents divorce and tries to concentrate on his football while pleasing his word obsessed dad. My favourite character was Cody as he sticks to being Nick’s friend and cheers him up. This is a really good book for reluctant or sports readers. The style is interesting and humour comes in as well. 8/10
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I loved Booked and thought I wouldn’t like the poem style but it was actually quite a good idea. The only negative was the sudden ending. With not that many words to a page, I would have expected there to be a lot more pages snd an overall bigger book. Still, I would rate it 8/10
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i have read a little bit and I am LOVING it! I am rating it a 7/10 so far.
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We really enjoyed this book. We loved how it was in verses and was an easy and quick read It was nothing like we had read before. It was about a boy called Nick who loves soccer and playing it. He has a crazy dad who makes him read his dictionaries, he is trying to impress a girl called April and has a librarian who has a secret box. When something happens on the pitch Nicks world starts to fall apart …
Read this book to find out what happens. We give it 8/10.
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I really enjoyed this story because it was about the sport I love. Also I disliked the cliffhanger at the end because there is no second book and it just made me want to read more of books by the author. The book had such a grip on me because it was written in second person so it just made me feel like I was the main character and everything was happening to me. Booked would definitely go down as one of my all time favourite books and I have already recommended it to some of my football friends. I would rate it a 9.9/10 because of the cliffhanger at the end.
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Samuel Ray-Bilington: Dulwich Prep London
Nick Hall loves football. It’s all he thinks about. He lives and breathes for it. He also has a strong dislike for words. One day his parents decide to split up and Nick is left alone with his dad, who is obsessed with words. Nick finds himself with a dilemma after an injury. Will he listen to his parents and give up football or will he pursue his love of the The Beautiful Game? Faced with this difficult decision and the break-up of his parents, he surprises himself when he finds comfort in books.
This is a wonderful book, full of great descriptions and an amazing storyline. ‘Booked’ is written in the style of a poem in free verse which allows a quick read but still leaves you hanging on every word and wanting more. This also allows the reader to really feel the energy of the story because the language bounces along like a ball. I also think the use of footnotes and interesting words encompasses learning vocabulary without you even knowing.
I would give this book nine out of ten and would recommend it to anyone even if they aren’t a fan of football because the story is more about the power of words than the game itself.
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The book is really slow but gradually builds up and after reading it I loved it and the characters where wonderful. I would rate it a 9 out of 10.
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I have never read Kwame Alexander before but Booked was a brilliant book.
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This book was a truly great book about sports, even though I’m not the sporty type, and i could not put the book down once i had started reading it. I really enjoyed the fact that there were more and more problems just popping up throughout the book as it just kept me wondering how Nick, the main character, was going to solve them. The only thing about this book was that it left off with a cliffhanger and now i really want to read the next book.
Overall i would give this book a 9/10
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I personally love football, so when I read the blurb I knew I would love this book. It is written in a way like a poem, but also has the feel of a novel. Although there were quite a few cliffhangers which annoyed me, I loved it it. Although I have never read Kwame Alexander, I would love to read the sequel which is called ‘crossover’. I would rate it 9/10, a very easy read.
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I felt that this was one of the most realistic books that i have ever read, as it embraces things that are fully possible in life and has no ending where a hero saves the day. This was entertaining to read, funny and the most ‘verbomaniacal’ book i have read in my life. As soon as i started reading it, i was hooked on, and wouldn’t put it down until bedtime.
I give this delightful book an 9/10
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Luke. Dulwich Hamlet Junior School.
I very much liked the book as it was catchy. I haven’t read a book like this before, as the layout was quite weird. It is a non-rhyming poetry book and I give it a 9/10!
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Booked, for me was an absolute joy to read as it was a very unique book quite different to others. And because of that, It was an interesting and breathtaking read as I read it 24/7 untill I came to the last page and it stopped. The book had finished and left me on a dead end. I was quite astonished why Kwame Alexander had left me at a dead end but it was probably for the best. But I would recomend it all and especially fo footballers.10/10
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Booked is a very unique book as it has a different style of writing which i have never come across. As soon as i started reading i could tell that the story would be amazing and that i would cherish. Before you knew it i was reading it whenever i had time. But when i turned to the last page the words had run out and the autor lead me to a dead end which suprised me. But overall it was a good read and i rate it 10/10
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This book was a story about a boy who had quite a hard life as he had his appendix removed and he missed out on lots of things that he liked. One of the things that he really liked was football and it was really hard for him that he had to miss out on a soccer tournament.
I’d rate it 8/10.
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I quite enjoyed this book. I thought that I learned some good new words, I thought that the format was intriguing and I thought it displayed some things about friendly rivalry. However I thought that it was displayed as a football (yes, FOOTBALL) book but altogether there was very little football action. I thought that there were no deep descriptions about anything, it just skimmed over the top of things. Finnaly I disliked the anti climax, from the beginning I was exited about the Docter Pepper Cup and
naturally I thought there would be a climax at the cup, but when Nick gets appendicitis it changed my view on the book completely. Overall I would give this book a 6/10.
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Booked is a very gripping and inspirational book. Interestingly, Kwame Alexander choose a very unique style of writing. At first I thought that I wouldn’t enjoy the book because it was written in free-verse but once you get past that, it is an amazing book. Booked has an unexpected twist which puts Nick’s willpower to the test. Overall I would give Booked a 10/10.
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I liked the book BOOKED because i love football and i really enjoy poems because I find them so interesting, especially when they’re based on true stories. I felt hooked to the book and i couldn’t stop reading it. Poems make me feel so emotional because before my Nan passed i used to write poems a lot.
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I like this book because I like football. Football is my main sport so I understand how Nick feels about it, and how Kobi taught him how to play better. I liked the poetry style because I could understand it. I would like other books like this, so am going to look out for THE CROSSOVER. Books like this are exciting for me.
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I think this book had an amazing story and, because of the way it was written, I loved it even more. It looks at first as if it revolves only around football but actually it has got a much deeper meaning to it. I like how you can relate to the characters int he book with the problems they face and hoe they cope with them which makes it much more realistic.
Altogether l really thought that this book was very clever and was filled with lots of good moments so l rate it 9.5/10
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