Black and White - Softcover

John Williams (1922-1994) was born and raised in Northeast Texas. Despite a talent for writing and acting, Williams flunked out of a local junior college after his first year. He reluctantly joined the war effort, enlisting in the Army Air Corps, and managing to write a draft of his first novel while there. Once home, Williams found a small publisher for the novel and enrolled at the University of Denver, where he was eventually to receive both his B.A. and M.A., and where he was to return as an instructor in 1954. Williams remained on the staff of the creative writing program at the University of Denver until his retirement in 1985. During these years, he was an active guest lecturer and writer, publishing two volumes of poetry and three novels, Butcher's Crossing, Stoner, and the National Book Award-winning Augustus. Growing up in Derby, Rob Childs wanted to be an England footballer or cricketer, or failing that, a sports journalist - certainly not a teacher. Of course, he did go on to become a teacher, during which time he gained a great deal of experience coaching school teams in football, athletics, cricket and cross-country. He is now a full time writer and draws on this experience for his stories. He is best known for his successful The Big Match series, the Soccer Mad, Phantom Football and County Cup series in Yearling and for the popular Great! and Wicked series for Corgi Pups.

This is an engaging, sporty story which is easily accessible to young readers... The book touches on racism but not in a heavy handed way. It also brings in girls - Leela is a star member of the team - and left handedness. It promotes positive ideas, such as the power of friendship, not telling tales and and not retaliating. The simple style and amount of snappy dialogue make it a good read for youngsters getting started, and the line drawings add liveliness to the text. School Librarian