What I like best, yes most of all In my whole life, is kicking a ball Those are a couple of lines from author Allan Ahlberg's "Heard It in the Playground" (1989), a collection of poems inspired by playground happenings — but they sum up his latest work. Right from the kickoff, this book is about that round object that can make right-thinking men — and women — leg it up and down a field in an attempt to connect boot with ball. Yes, it's all about soccer: shots, passes, tackles and all.
The title is also a playful reference to one of Ahlberg's early books, published in 1977, about a burglar called Bill. "The Boyhood of Burglar Bill," meanwhile, is a nostalgic look at Ahlberg's own boyhood days growing up in Oldbury, England, a working-class town near Birmingham. It's the year 1953, the year Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at a coronation ceremony in London's Westminster Abbey, and an interschool soccer competition has been announced to celebrate Coronation Year. And Mr. Cork, the coach, is obsessed with training the boys on the top pitch to win the cup.