There aren’t enough good football books and this is definitely a good one even though it’s also very silly. Tim and his family move to the country when his dad decides to become a farmer. Unfortunately farming is harder than it looks, and things don’t go at all well. Bankruptcy is looming when Tim persuades his dad to take in a pack of llamas. For various unlikely reasons, the llamas turn out to be footballing geniuses, the Ronaldos and Messis of the animal world, and are soon competing at a very high level. Silly, and as satisfying as stories of unlikely champions always are, the book is also full of quality descriptions of the footballing action as Llama United progress up the league. As always, Sarah Horne’s inky illustrations add to the fun. Supporters of Llama United will also enjoy The Mighty Dynamo by Kieran Crowley.
What happens when eleven llamas unknowingly eat the ashes of one of the greatest footballers of all time? They become brilliant at football, of course! Managed by eleven-year-old Tim, his unusual friend Cairo and Scottish World Cup-winner McCloud (yes that *happened* apparently), Llama United goes on an amazing cup run. But who wants to lose to a team of stupid llamas? Nobody, that's who! Rival teams will do anything in their power to stop Llama United in its tracks. When the best cup in the world is at stake, football can be a nasty old business...
Illustrated throughout by Sarah Horne, it's time to get behind the team with an impossible dream!
Scott Allen was brought up in the horse-racing town of Epsom. After discovering he was too tall and heavy to be a jockey he turned his attention to football. At sixteen he started writing for fanzines before becoming a professional sports writer, editor and digital-content specialist. He is a West Ham supporter, but we don't hold that against him. Scott now lives in Yorkshire with his wife, two children and cat. He likes Twiglet sandwiches and still has ambitions of becoming a pirate or an outlaw.