REVIEWS FOR GOALDEN GIRL (Just in case the links stop working!)

By Trupti Dorge for Front Street Reviews:

After Gemma's mother's death, her father remarries Shelley who Gemma's hates. She also has a young daughter Portia who is as irritating as Shelley. Gemma has her entire world uprooted when she has to leave her old school, her friends and football.

She is unable to fit in the new school. It does not have a football team either. When the PE teacher Cassidy lends his support to introduce a girl's football team, Gemma is ecstatic. But there are guys like Tyrone and his friends who will do anything to stop the girls from playing.
Then one day among all this chaos, Gemma sees her teacher Cassidy and her step mom Shelly kissing. She thinks if her dad comes to know about the affair, Shelly and her daughter Portia would have to leave the house.

The rest of the book is about how the girls manage to form a football team and the mystery surrounding her step mom's affair.

I have kind of have mixed feelings over this book. When I started reading it, I was like, 'okay, not bad, I can read this'. After some time, I was like, 'Okay, this is interesting'. But somewhere at the middle I kind of started getting a little bored. I felt the story was not moving ahead.

Then suddenly I was hooked. I wanted to know what happened to Shelly and her father's marriage. I wanted to know what the affair between Shelly and Cassidy was. And I could certainly empathize with Gemma. As the book was from Gemma's perspective alone, there was hardly any character development for others. But I would not put that as a negative point here, rather just an observation.The end was unexpected but interesting. This book is funny at times and overall entertaining. I would recommend it to all teenagers, especially those who love playing any team sports. The matches in the book are really well written and those into playing sports would certainly enjoy them. For those who hate football, just skip the pages with the matches in it and the read the rest. It won't disappoint.

By Anne Marie Medema for ReaderViewsKids:

Tracey Morait is a talented author who writes mysteries and suspense novels for young readers. In her book “Goalden Girl,” Tracey Morait winds in mystery, excitement and sports to tell the story to the reader. Tracey Morait writes in a conversational style letting the characters tell the plot. Tracey Morait uses the main characters life to explain other children’s lives.
“Goalden Girl” begins with the wedding of Gemma’s father to Shelly. Gemma is a young girl who is independent and must accept her new stepmother into her life. Due to her father’s remarriage, Gemma moves to a new school with all its challenges. Her gym teacher, Mr. Cassidy, wants girls to play soccer but the head superintendent does not approve. Tyrone, Gemma’s cousin, wants to do everything to stop the girls from forming a soccer team. Tyrone and his mates sabotage and harass the girls. When the girls finally get to play soccer, their soccer uniforms are destroyed. The girls do not know who has ruined their uniforms. Gemma’s stepsister Portia wants to attend ballet school, but she thinks she is fat and unable to dance. Portia wants to go on a diet and join a soccer team.

At one of Gemma’s soccer meets at Childwall School, Tyrone and his mates sit down on the soccer field while the girls are playing soccer. Gemma’s father is upset with this action so he and another teacher grab Tyrone and carry him off the soccer field. At a soccer game at Gemma’s old school, the LLF attacks again. At Woodgate School, Gemma’s friend Becca makes a plan. When the girls see Tyrone they are going to wave WoodGate scarves so they know from which direction Tyrone is approaching. During the middle of the game Gemma and Becca see one of the girls waving a Woodgate scarf. The LLF are attacking the soccer game. When the LLF attacks there is a whistle blown and all the girls pick up water balloons and hurl them at the LLF. Then a girl brings out a cardboard box of old eggs and sugar. The girls throw the mixture of eggs and sugar at the LLF. On the way home from the soccer game, Gemma stumbles upon Tyrone, beat up. Tyrone was beat up by his LLF mates and Gemma calls an ambulance to help. At the end of the book one of Tyrone’s good mates gives Gemma the name Goalden Girl.

I highly recommend “Goalden Girl” by Tracey Morait because it is a story mixed with humor, excitement and real-life situations. Since I am a soccer player, I related to the main character Gemma, with her interest in sports. But more so, I am just as independent and confident as Gemma is in “Goalden Girl.” Just like Gemma was in the story, I keep pursuing my interests despite what other people say or think of me. You can score a goal when you read “Goalden Girl” by Tracey Morait.

By Maurice Williams for BookIdeas:

Soccer has become very popular in the United States during the past generation. Today most US school-age children are enrolled in intramural soccer teams. Soccer has long been popular in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom.

Goalden Girl is an adventure story about a young British teenager who is disappointed with an unhappy turn in her family and is also attracted to soccer. Tracey Morait has put together an interesting and well-plotted novel about young Gemma Sutherland, her family problems, and many well-described action scenes of Gemma's soccer games.

The novel begins with Gemma Sutherland as bridesmaid at her father's second marriage. Gemma doesn't like her stepmother or her stepmother's sister. Gemma is resentful because her father remarried after her mother's tragic death almost a year ago. Both her stepmother and the stepmother's sister are drunk at the wedding. In protest to dad's remarriage to such a woman, Gemma decides to become Goth. While dad and the stepmother are on honeymoon, Gemma cuts her hair short, dyes it jet black, uses wax to make it stand up straight, and wears dark eye shadow and dark maroon lipstick. She tops it off with black tights full of holes, short skirt, and chains. She doesn't like her new stepsister, Portia, either, whom she thinks is a spoiled brat and much too fat. She also doesn't like her stepmother's nephew Tyrone, who soon becomes her arch enemy and rival at school.

The death of her mother and her father's remarriage has necessitated that the family move to a new neighborhood with a new school that does not support soccer for girls. Gemma's earlier school did support girl's soccer. Concurrent with her rebellion against the changes in her family, Gemma tries to get her new school to authorize a girl's soccer team. She meets much resistance, especially from her stepmother's nephew Tyrone. He and his friends continually harass the girls compromising their ability to play well and even forcing postponement of games. Mr. Cassidy, the soccer coach assigned to the girl's team has a suspicious relationship with Gemma's stepmother. Gemma plays sleuth and seriously complicates the relationship between her father and his new wife. The father decides to host an extended family dinner to mend things, and the dinner descends into a venomous family fight.

In the meantime, Soccer has given Gemma an outlet for her frustrations and helps her meet new friends in her new neighborhood. She gradually realizes what kind of adjustments her stepmother and new stepsister have had to make, and her attitude toward them softens. Gemma's courage and realistic outlook on life brings about a happy resolution to her problems and the problems of other characters in the novel also. Tracey Morait's Goalden Girl is a wholesome action story for young people about problems teenagers sometimes have to face and the therapeutic effect of intramural sports. If you are interested in soccer, or if your children play soccer, you will enjoy this book. The setting for the book is in the United Kingdom. The spelling and local slang words are unique to the United Kingdom. This adds a special flavor to the novel.