José René Higuita Zapata is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was nicknamed El Loco for his high-risk 'sweeper-keeper' playing style and his flair for the dramatic, and sometimes even scoring goals despite being a goalkeeper.
How I Live Now is a novel by Meg Rosoff, first published in 2004. It received generally positive reviews and won the British Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the American Printz Award for young-adult literature.
Malcolm Charles Peet was an English writer and illustrator best known for young adult fiction. He has won several honours including the Brandford Boase, the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize, British children's literature awards that recognise "year's best" books. Three of his novels feature football and the fictional South American sports journalist Paul Faustino. The Murdstone Trilogy (2014) and "Mr Godley's Phantom" were his first works aimed at adult readers.
The Branford Boase Award is a British literary award presented annually to an outstanding children's or young-adult novel by a first-time writer; "the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist." The award is shared by both the author and their editor, which The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature noted is unusual for literary awards.
Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal is a young-adult novel by Mal Peet, published by Walker Books in 2005. Within a 1995 frame story, where a 15-year-old girl inherits papers and other mementos from her deceased grandfather, it is set in the occupied Netherlands near the end of the Second World War; there it features two British-trained Dutch agents and the resistance to German occupation of the Netherlands. The novel interweaves past and present to show the lasting effects of war and the passions it arouses.
The Penalty is a sports novel for young adults by Mal Peet, published by Walker Books in 2006. It is the second football stories featuring South American sports journalist Paul Faustino. The teen football prodigy El Brujito disappears without a trace and Faustino is drawn to find the summer valentines in the night of October when the mother where it is. He unfolds the story behind the disappearance.
Marcus Sedgwick was a British writer and illustrator. He authored several young adult and children's books and picture books, a work of nonfiction and several novels for adults, and illustrated a collection of myths and a book of folk tales for adults. According to School Library Journal his "most acclaimed titles" were those for young adults.
Fire, Bed, and Bone by Henrietta Branford is a historical novel for older children set at the time of the Peasants' Revolt. It was published by Walker Books in 1997. Branford won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.
Frances Hardinge is a British children's writer. Her debut novel, Fly by Night, won the 2006 Branford Boase Award and was listed as one of the School Library Journal Best Books. She has also been shortlisted for and received a number of other awards for both her novels as well as some of her short stories.
Beast is a 2006 young adult novel by Ally Kennen. It won the 2007 Manchester Book Award, and was shortlisted for the 2006 Booktrust Teenage Prize, the 2007 Carnegie Medal and the 2007 Branford Boase Award.
Millions is a novel published early in 2004, the first book by British screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce. It is an adaptation of his screenplay for the film Millions, although it was released six months before the film (September). Set in England just before British adoption of the euro the story features two boys who must decide what to do with a windfall in expiring currency.
Exposure is a sports novel for young adults by English writer Mal Peet, published by Walker Books in 2008. Inspired by William Shakespeare's Othello, the story follows Otello, a black association football player and his high-profile relationship with Desmerelda, a white celebrity. It also has a parallel plot about three street kids trying to live life in abject poverty.
José Miguel Marín Ocotto was an Argentine footballer who played as a goalkeeper and as a football coach. He started his career in Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield, and became champion with this Argentine team. He then became a Mexican soccer star with Cruz Azul, where he won several championships and became an iconic player. He is widely regarded as one of the best international goalkeepers to play in Mexico.
Anthony John McGowan is an English author of books for children, teenagers and adults. He is the winner of the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal for Lark.
Omar Ortiz Uribe is a Mexican former professional footballer and convicted kidnapper. He played as as a goalkeeper, making his debut in 1997 with Monterrey.
César Fernández García is a Spanish novelist. His novels and short stories have been distributed in several countries and have been translated into many languages, including Turkish language and Korean language.
Julia Eccleshare MBE is a British journalist and writer on the subject of children's books. She has been Children's Books editor for The Guardian newspaper for more than ten years, at least from 2000. She is also an editorial contributor and advisor for the website Love Reading 4 Kids. She is a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.
Stolen is the debut novel of author Lucy Christopher. It was published in the UK in 2009 and is the story of Gemma Toombs, a 16-year-old girl who is kidnapped by a 25-year-old man named Ty and taken to the middle of the Great Sandy Desert in the Australian Outback. Subtitled A Letter to My Captor, the book is told in second person narrative as a letter from Gemma to Ty.
The Murdstone Trilogy is a novel by Mal Peet. It was the final novel completed by Peet before his death in 2015. The Murdstone Trilogy is one of only two novels by Peet that targets adult readers, the other being Mr Godley's Phantom —the majority of the author's work was in children's literature.
