Soccer I Just Love It!

By Alister Nicholson & Tom Jellett

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Alister Nicholson is one of Australia’s best-known radio and TV sports commentators. His first children’s book, Cricket, I Just Love It!, was published in 2021. Tom Jellett is a Sydney-based illustrator, who for over twenty years has illustrated children’s books including the wonderful Dirt by Sea by Michael Wagner.

Full disclosure here I know nothing about soccer but am prepared to love any book illustrated by Tom Jellett. He doesn’t disappoint in page after page of kids playing with a soccer ball in his signature expressive style. Written in fractured rhyme that often has a broken rhythm by Alister Nicholson, this is a loosely structured story of kids who love to play the game and do so wherever and whenever they can. They talk about techniques and famous exponents of the game including Sam Kerr, (even I have heard of her), John Aloisi, Cortnee Vine and Tim Cahill.

Their names and achievements are displayed on the back endpapers while the front has some fascinating Soccer Speak such as Fox in the box, Putting it on a plate, a bicycle kick and Parking the bus. I love these expressions as they sound so quintessentially Australian.

A useful book for a school library or for any soccer afficionados and for those like me who know little or nothing, well, you can always learn more about the game. I am now ready to use some Soccer Speak on my soccer playing son-in-law.

A & U Children 2026

Alister Nicholson

Tom Jellett