The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids: Zombies Don’t Play Soccer by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones

In this modern fantasy chapter book, the Bailey Boomers soccer team receives a new coach after one player, named Eddie, drove their last coach away. Their new soccer coach is a woman that knows her soccer! She makes them practice hard for hours until they are completely worn-out. One day, during soccer practice a mysterious old woman appears and begins yelling at their new soccer coach. The old lady warns the coach that she “will be sorry” if she stays in Bailey City to coach. After that day, the kids on the soccer team started to notice that their coach was acting funny. She did not seem interested in the game of soccer anymore; she simply stared off into space during practice. Trying to understand what was going on with their coach, several players started naming possible issues. One player suggested that the old lady turned her into a zombie. Convinced that their coach was indeed a zombie, the players try numerous things, including tickling their coach and getting her to eat salt, which they thought would help her get out of this zombie state. Despite their effort, none of these things seemed to work. But on the night the Bailey Boomers were playing their rival team, the players remembered that their new coach always instilled the importance of teamwork among them. Although they were losing the game at the first half, the Bailey Boomers pulled it together and won the game. It was at that moment that their coach came out of her zombie state and was back to her normal self. I believe this book would be fun for students to read, because I feel that they could relate to playing soccer or some other sport. In my opinion, being able to relate themselves to the story would help increase their comprehension. Finally, I love that this book instills the value of teamwork. This is such an important concept for students to learn and I could not think of a better way to incorporate it than through a book!