Izzy's Magical Football Adventure by Emma Larkin - Book Blitz & Review
Izzy’s
Magical Football Adventure
Izzy is a
seven-year-old girl who lives in Ireland and loves all sport, especially Gaelic
Football.
Izzy plays football with her brothers on a
regular basis in their back garden and dreams of playing for her county in the
All Ireland Ladies Football Final in Croke Park when she is older.
One day, Izzy puts on her great grandmother’s
bracelet, which is made of old All Ireland medals that her great grandmother
won a long time ago, and something unexpected and magical happens, which may
make Izzy’s Croke Park dream a reality sooner than she expected…………….
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My Review
Izzy's Magical Football Adventure is a fun children's book that teaches kids to always believe in themselves, follow their dreams, and to be confident in everything they do.
Izzy loves playing football with her brothers, but she grows frustrated when she loses to her brothers more often than she'd like. She's determined to go pro one day.
With the help of a magical bracelet, Izzy gets to live her dream a little sooner than she ever expected, and it just goes to show that with a little bit of patience and a lot of practice, she just might make her dream come true for real.
I enjoyed the story. As a fan of soccer myself, I found the book to be exciting and honest. It was refreshing to see the main character struggling with her dream goal, and then learning how to work towards making her dream a reality one day.
I think kids (both boys and girls) will like reading about Izzy and her magical adventure once she puts on her great-grandma's bracelet. And parents will appreciate the message it sends to their young readers.
5 stars from me!
About me:
My name is Emma Larkin, and I am the founder
of “Emma Larkin Books” and “Rebel in Kerry Press”. I have recently written and published my
first book “Izzy’s Magical Football Adventure”, and I hope to write many more
books about Izzy and her adventures in sport. As may be evident from the name
of my publishing imprint, I am a “Rebel in Kerry”! This means that I am originally from County
Cork in Ireland, which is known as the Rebel County, but I moved to Kerry
(another county in Ireland which neighbours Cork) in 2006 and have been happily
living in Kerry since then, with my husband and four children. My husband is a
Kerry native and we live in North Kerry, near Listowel, where my husband is
from, and is an area which is rich is literary history!
I have
always enjoyed reading and writing. Writing essays was my favourite part of
primary school!
In my
spare time, I love to run. I am very involved in my local parkrun in Listowel.
I also coach ladies’ football at underage level with my local ladies’ football
club and did attempt to play ladies football for a few years with my local
“Gaelic4Mothers&Others Team”! I may not have been the greatest football
player, but I could run! And it was an hour each week where I could exercise in
a fun environment with a fantastic group of women, who I remain friends with to
this day.
My
inspiration to write this book was my grandmother, Maureen Hennebry, née Cashman. She was on the Cork camogie
team which won the All-Ireland Camogie Championship three times in row between
1939 and 1941. She came from a family rich in GAA history, the Cashman’s of
Blackrock in Cork, and is even mentioned in the following poem by the famous
Irish poet, Patrick Kavanagh:
Camogie
Match
Patrick
Kavanagh 1905 - 1967
Bright shone the sunlight on Peggy and
Doreen
Wild swung the ash sticks. Be careful astoreen;
Josie is getting into her stride now,
Kathleen is hurling with all her Cork
pride now.
A shout from the side-line: Mark your
man, Kathleen Cody.
Kathleen pucks it. I tell you that puck was a dotie.
The game is exciting, it is indeed
really,
Maureen Cashman is tackling the bold
Ide O’Kiely …
In
hindsight, I am in awe of the fact that my grandmother and her teammates played
camogie at such a high level at a time in Ireland, where a woman’s role was
predominantly to be a wife and homemaker. Which comes to my reason for writing
this book, my grandmother was my inspiration to write it, but my reason for
writing it was to encourage all young girls to play sports. It is crucial for
our wellbeing and development and we need to make it as normal for girls to
play sport as it is for boys. The growing popularity of women’s sports in
Ireland and further afield is so encouraging and we need to continue to develop
this. As the current 20*20 campaign says, “if she can’t see it, she can’t be
it”. I hope that my book can in some way help to normalise girls playing
football and that both boys and girls will enjoy reading about Izzy’s
adventures!
Visit the following websites for more
information;
20*20 campaign - www.20x20.ie
Sport Ireland – www.sportireland.ie
Ladies Gaelic Football Association – www.ladiesgaelic.ie
Camogie Association – www.camogie.ie
Women in sport - www.womeninsport.org
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