The cover says it all! Flora is such a good soccer player that she has been invited to the International Sports Academy to compete for a chance to play for the U.S. Girls’ Soccer Team. It’s her first time away from home, but she works hard to make new friends as well as trying to become the best soccer player that she can be.

From November 2010 SLJ:
Gr 5–8—Flora Dupre loves soccer, and before her mom died of cancer, she made a promise that one day she was going to play for the U.S. Women's National Team. She dominates the team at her secondary school, but she is not being challenged, and she longs to play with more seasoned players than those in her little Maine town. She gets her chance when her coach tells her that she has been invited to Colorado for a two-week National Team Identification Camp, where she quickly finds out that things are quite different in the big leagues. The head coach seems to have it in for her with constant criticism; a clique of mean girls makes fun of her large stature; and she feels very alone in the pool of 100 girls who are just as determined as she is to get one of the few spots on the Under-15 national team. Choat's background in sports journalism is obvious. While soccer action takes precedence over any deep character development, readers will enjoy following Flora's new friendships, budding romance, and changing relationship with her father. Themes of sportsmanship and the mental and physical aspects of training are subtly woven into the story line. John Feinstein, Tim Green, and Mike Lupica have broadened the availability of engaging sports fiction with male protagonists; this is a solid purchase for collections looking to expand female representation in their sports-themed novels.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA ( )

The book Soccerland by Beth Choat makes you want to get a ball and play soccer. Beth Choat’s expertise is sports, and she has been a sports journalist for almost two decades. She has written for world, Olympic, and European national championships, where she learned first-hand what it is like to be a young, female, world class athlete.
Soccerland was written from Flora, the main character’s, point of view, so you know what’s going on in her head and see the difficulties she faces. Flora gets invited to try out for the U15 U.S. girls national soccer team thanks to her school soccer coach, coach Roy. For two weeks during tryouts she lives at the International Sports Academy. During this time she tries hard to make the team and makes some great friends. By the end of the camp, Flora can’t imagine going back to her small town playing school soccer. Two days before they announce the team Flora gets hurt and she can’t play. Now she just has the next day, the last day of tryouts, to prove that she belongs on the team.
I enjoyed reading this story very much. I don’t have anything bad to say about it. The people who would most enjoy this book are young female soccer players. They will find this story very inspiring. Even young female athletes that don’t play soccer would probably enjoy this book. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because I did not feel that the book dragged on at all, and once I started I couldn’t put the book down. ( )