Football Fantasy

Ben Hubbard

In the struggle to coax emerging and reluctant readers into discovering books, football, as a theme is obviously a seductive ‘in’. But between watching the game and playing it on a computer screen, the idea of reading about it in books may not be particularly appetising for those children who for whatever reason do not read.

Children’s publisher Wizard hopes to overcome these obstacles through its series of gamebooks, Football Fantasy.

‘The Football Fantasy concept started two years ago and we thought they had great potential because they are books but also games. If you’re into books as a child there is a fantastic array of things to read, but for children who don’t really read, it was a brand new way of introducing them to books,’ says Wizard publishing director Simon Flynn.

The interactive books simulate the game of football: the reader acts as one team, with full control of the players and their gameplay. Each page of the book covers a part of the pitch, showing the reader which team controls the ball. Then the reader chooses an option and compares it with the opposing team’s option and the game moves to a different page. The book contains 240 different illustrations and boasts over 8500 possible options.

Flynn says the suggested age is around nine, although this depends on reading age not actual age: ‘There is no reason why you couldn’t play it with your dad, for example.’ The books are light on text; containing instructions, biographies and team histories, ‘But it’s only an introduction to a book really,’ rather than a solid cover-to-cover read.

As government statistics point to a reading gap between boys and girls, encouraging young male readers is important. Wizard has worked with the National Literacy Trust and the National Centre for Literacy and Learning. Flynn says the feedback from both organisations showed the appeal of Football Fantasy books for male readers.

‘We felt it was a very good way – particularly for boys who aren’t the first to want to pick up a book – to introduce them to the whole concept of a book, and that it can be more than a story about middle-class children in a mansion in the early twentieth century,’ says Flynn.

The books can be played alone but are at their best when played with a companion.

‘The thing that is different about these books from practically any other book is that it works best through social interaction – you can play it on your own but it’s much better if you play it with a friend. If you think of books in any other way, they are quite a solitary experience. You can talk about books with friends and “Have you read such and such?” and there’s social interaction going on, but it’s not direct in a sense.’

Social interaction has its links with literacy through oracy, and some research has blamed too much time in front of television and computer screens rather than communicating with the family for a lack of children’s language skills at the time they start school. Some have also suggested a child’s poor speaking skills hinders their formal education in written and reading skills.
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But would a child really opt to read a gamebook if the more tantalising option of computer games is present?

‘Our feeling was that probably 95 per cent of kids who are playing on their computer are usually playing on their own, and the books would allow you to do something when you weren’t at your computer. So if you’re on the bus or in the playground you can play with your own friends and you can have more social interaction. Probably your parents would feel better that you were playing with your friends too.’

‘When you’re playing the books you’re under the impression that you’re trying to better the other person in your head, so in a way it’s similar to chess – you are dependent on what the other person does, but you’re also trying to outwit them and second-guess them. So again a different approach from the computer games.’

Flynn has used the Football Fantasy series when visiting a local classroom to work with SEN pupils. The penalty shootout section of the books pitted the visitor, Flynn, against the pupils and also gave them a chance to talk about his job in publishing and some favourite reads.