{"id":4681,"date":"2018-07-22T00:01:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T06:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4681"},"modified":"2018-07-21T14:56:47","modified_gmt":"2018-07-21T20:56:47","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-596-featuring-paul-hoppe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4681","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #596: Featuring Paul Hoppe"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“He calculates, backs up, and shoots at the perfect time.
The crowd goes wild. WAAAAAA!!!”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read full text)<\/center>
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\nIn Mina Javaherbin’s<\/a><\/strong> Neymar: A Soccer Dream Come True<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (FSG, May 2018), illustrated by Paul Hoppe<\/a><\/strong>, readers meet international soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos J\u00fanior<\/a><\/strong> (a.k.a. Neymar) as a boy. He lives with his family in his grandpa’s house in Brazil and dreams of soccer stardom. <\/p>\n

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Young Neymar often plays with his father, whose own dream of “stardom” ended when he was injured in an accident as a child. One day Neymar is pegged by a soccer coach as having talent and begins to coach with him. When a new youth-league division of the local soccer team is created, Neymar plays for them and learns “the rhythms of soccer.” Eventually, he begins to play for Real Madrid’s academy in Spain, though Neymar longs for his home in Brazil. He misses his family, his mother’s cooking, and playing with his friends in the street. And so he returns. From there, Javaherbin lays out his rise to stardom after Neymar is invited to play for Santos’s major league.
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“The ball is flying directly toward the goal. Wait! Who’s that? …”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read full text)<\/center>
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\nTelling his story in an imagined first-person voice, Javaherbin focuses on Neymar’s love for and devotion to his family. In her closing author’s note, she writes about her connection to Neymar’s story and even how she, as a child, also engaged in pretend soccer matches in her home. Paul Hoppe’s illustrations capture the energy and movement of the game, and he places the reader in the midst of the action, as if we’re right there on the field.
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“I love playing soccer with him. I’m learning his expert moves.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read full text)<\/center>
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\nI may not be a big sports person myself, but I understand there was a lil’ soccer game recently<\/a><\/strong>, and this picture book is the perfect read for soccer fans everywhere, coming down from the World Cup high.
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\nNEYMAR: A SOCCER DREAM COME TRUE. Text copyright \u00a9 2018 by Mina Javaherbin. Pictures copyright \u00a9 2018 by Paul Hoppe and used by permission of the publisher, Farrar Straus Giroux, New York.<\/em>
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\nNote for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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1)<\/strong><\/font> Because of ComicCon, there was quite a bit of Doctor Who buzz this week (case in point<\/a><\/strong>). I may have gotten teary-eyed more than a few times.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Dinner with a friend and my first time at Nashville’s Plaza Mariachi<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> I love so much of what Parker Posey says here<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> The book trailer for our family’s current read-aloud:
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