The Wild Soccer Bunch,Book 4, Julian the Mighty Hardcover – November 1, 2012

I am a fan of "The Wild Soccer Bunch" series, and Book 4, "Julian the Mighty", really moved me. In this fourth outing, our intrepid narrator is Julian Fort Knox the All-In-One Defender, a boy who lives in a broken home with his mother, his father having skipped out years ago. When the Wild Soccer Bunch begins playing in a real league in a real stadium of their own, Julian's longing for his father gets the best of him and he goes off to find him in hopes of bringing him to a game so he can see his son play. In his journey across the desolate landscape of some nearby Chicago projects, Julian travels through the Grim Woods and across the 'Prairie' to where his father is rumored to live and comes up against Mickey the Bulldozer and his gang 'The Unbeatables'. This mean gang of bullies forces him to give them all the money his team has been saving up to buy their coach Larry a birthday present. They even threaten to hurt his little brother if he doesn't do their bidding. Julian discovers he has to face his fears and triumph against these bullies to become a real hero. And so, in touching, often hilarious action adventures, author Joachim Masannek proves beyond a doubt that this wonderful bunch of Chicago street kids known as 'The Wild Soccer Bunch' are good to the core and are true friends to each other. Highly recommended. -- Max

My Grandson loved the book I got for him for Christmas & this was the 4th in the in the series of 5 that I bought for him!He loves & plays Soccer on his grade school team.

I gave my grandson Books 1-3 for Christmas. He asked for Book 4 which I gave to him for his birthday this month. He read the entire book in 3 days, and asked when the next one will be out. He loves them!

My grandson got the 4 Wild Soccer Bunch books for Christmas, and he loves them!

Love all of these. Perfect for a 9 year-old, boy or girl

My son loves this series. He really enjoys how each book is about a new character.He can't wait until book five!

Fans of the first three Wild Soccer Bunch titles will enjoy this opportunity for further adventures with characters they already know and love (or hate, as in the case of rival team and bullies, "The Unbeatables"). The Wild Soccer Bunch is back for more field time, friendship and problem solving as title character Julian tries to balance his need to find his absent father with his love for the life he currently leads. The book has a positive message about friendship and family without minimizing the longing, rejection and self-doubt Julian feels as he ponders why his father is not a part of his life and where he truly belongs.Adult readers may be bothered by grammatical errors and typos, as well as implausible situations and unrealistic solutions, but the bottom line is that kids will want to read this book and that makes it worth buying.

Julian's story has a variety of elements that would capture nearly any upper elementary student: wanting to find his father, bullying and blackmail, and sports. These issues are written about in an authentic child's voice, with interesting asides to the reader much like Kate diCamillo in "The Tale of Despereaux." Friendship and teamwork saves the day, making a fun and engaging story. The only weaknesses that I would identify would be a plethora of characters on the soccer team and their nicknames, making it difficult to keep track of each character's role in the story, and the occasionally excessive use to simile to illustrate various scenes.