Covers the life of Pele from childhood through professional soccer career. Text is shown in English, then in Spanish (as is author's note). Wild, brightly colored illustrations have great detail, pages are fun to look at. ( )

I liked this book for two reasons. First, the illustrations enhance the story. The use of paint and bright colors help to enhance the story and the successes that Pele achieved. The illustrations are detailed and help provide the audience with an image that corresponds to the written text. The illustrations enhance the story and help the audience envision what the writer has written. The use of bright colors help to create a positive and determined ambiance throughout the book and helps to keep the audience engaged. Another reason I like this book is because the character is well-developed. Because it is a biography, it is important to have the main character well-developed so that the audience can follow along in the story. This book has created a well-developed character and familiarized the audience with Pele. For example, the author writes, "Pele's family was very poor, so he sometimes worked shining shoes and selling meat pies to help them" (p. 6). This helps to develop Pele by telling the personal perspective of how Pele grew up. Rather than focusing on his soccer and athletic life, the author creates a well-developed character by introducing the audience to all aspects of Pele's life. The biography shares both triumphs and struggles throughout his life, and provides an appropriate amount of detail for the targetted audience. Overall, the big idea of this book is to share the story of Pele and his journey to becoming a famous soccer player and the hardships he endured to reach success. ( )

This is an amazing story that I really enjoyed reading. I think that children of all ages can really relate to this book and how Pele persevered and didn't let anything get in his way of wanting to become a professional soccer player.

This book would make a great paired text with The Crossover because it will appeal to ELL students. The bi-lingual English/Spanish book is a biography about Brazil's soccer star, Pele, and is written at a lower reading level. The Crossover and Pele, King of Soccer allow students to peek into the world of sports and the athletes that have a passion for the game. Students can also explore the relationship between fathers and sons in both novels.

I liked this book for a couple of reasons. One reason was the illustrations. I liked how they had different textures that you could see and it wasn't just flat and on a piece of paper. Another thing that I liked about this book was the writing. I really enjoyed the descriptive words that the author used to write with, such as "magic feet" and "like a dancer". One final thing that I liked about this book was how there was Spanish in this book. Because it was a biography, it really tied the whole thing together. The big idea that I got from this book was that determination can get you anything that you want. ( )