Soccer Diaries

World Book Day 2025 – Very exciting news!

I have written a new Rocky story which has been selected as one of the books you can choose with your World Book Day 2025 vouchers.

In Rocky Takes the Lead – will Rocky be able to take the lead and show both her British and her American friends that they’re all united by football?

Rocky Race loves football so much that she moved to the Unites States to train at a high school with an amazing soccer team. She’s made new friends, even won a State Championship! Now her best friends from her home in Melchester, England have come to play a match against her new American team. Rocky wants all her friends to get along, but her American friends don’t understand the British accents, and her British friends don’t understand why the Americans are so loud. If Rocky doesn’t do something, the whole match could take a very nasty turn.

Available from February 2025 for World Book Day – 6 March 2025
£1 / E1.50 or your WBD voucher

The series so far

1 Rocky Takes LA BUY here
2 Rocky’s Big Move BUY here
3 Rocky Goes for Goal PRE-ORDER for Spring 2025 here

Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available personalised to order from my local independent children’s bookshop “The Thoughtful Spot” www.thethoughtfulspotbooks.com/product-page/the-soccer-diaries-book-1-rocky-takes-la

OUT Spring 2025-Soccer Diaries 3 Rocky Goes for Goal

Now that Rocky has her grades under control, she can focus on the most important thing: she is going to the California Soccer Championships! With only weeks to go until the big match, Rocky is starting to… get nervous? But she never gets scared before a match! So why is she having nightmares, and dreading training after school? Everyone is counting on her, and she knows that winning the championship gives her a better chance of going pro. With so much pressure, will Rocky be able to step up and take the winning shot?

The exciting sequel in The Soccer Diaries series starring Rocky Race, a British footballer looking to make it big. Perfect for fans of Up For Air and The Kicks!

BUY Amazon here

Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available personalised to order from my local independent children’s bookshop “The Thoughtful Spot” here.

The series so far … Soccer Diaries 1-Rocky Takes LA

The Soccer Diaries is a brand new series starring Rocky Race, a British footballer looking to make it big in a US soccer school.

Roy of the Rover’s sister Rocky Race is not your average fourteen year old. She’s determined, ambitious and the best football player you’ve ever seen.

So, in Book 1, ‘Rocky Takes LA’, when she gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend a prestigious soccer camp in California, USA, she takes it. But far from home, Rocky suddenly finds herself out of her comfort zone. Fake friends, her own anxieties and a brand new world with strange rules all threaten to derail her new life before it’s even started – does Rocky have what it takes to succeed?

“a brilliant read… the issue of prejudice and racism in football was handled very well and sensitively” Priscilla Mante

Published by: Rebellion Publishing

BUY from Amazon here

“Tom Palmer is a true reading hero and has been responsible for motivating many thousands of young people to get into books” Booktrust

“Rocky proves that girls can be tough. She is a brilliant role model for girls and boys alike” Kate Heap, A Scope for Imagination

Read Chapters 1 & 2

Soccer Diaries 2-Rocky’s Big Move

The exciting sequel in The Soccer Diaries series starring Rocky Race, a British footballer looking to make it big.

Fourteen, hard as nails and magic on the pitch, Rocky Race is one of the best up and coming young footballers in the UK. But does she have what it takes to make it as a soccer pro in California?

Rocky Race is going for goal – but what about her grades?

Rocky Race is living the dream: she’s won a scholarship to a prestigious high school in Los Angeles, where she gets to play soccer and train for going pro. She’s got an amazing best friend, and a supportive mum and brother back home in the UK. But living away from home isn’t easy, and fitting in with American kids in high school is scary and new. Not to mention she has to keep her grades up if she wants to stay on the pitch! Will Rocky survive high school?

BUY from Amazon here

“everything that today’s children need as they grow up. It is jam-packed with positive role models, girls involvement in Women’s Football, respect, mental well-being, good work ethic, education and aspiration. Tom Palmer expertly weaves all of this together with friendship, family and a great little plot.” Books for Topics

Rocky Makes The Front Pages

Rocky is very proud to be a sponsor of England Deaf Women’s Football Team Playing in Malaysia in the World Cup 2023.

Rocky Activities

Discover more about all my relevant children’s books for all ages for the Women’s World Cup here.

Rocky Doodle Doo Colour in and add your own football linked doodles to download and print off here

Play Rocky’s 2023 World Cup Reading Game in the classroom or library and discover lots of way to enjoy football and enjoy reading here.

Learn to draw Rocky with Lisa Henke here.

Roy and Rocky of the Rovers Writing Kit. A set of eight activities designed to engage football fans with different aspects of writing using passion for the game as a way in. Free download from here.

Colouring

Sharp-shooter Rocky is testing her brother Roy’s goal-keeping skills. Can you add a crowd or maybe some more players and colour them all in here?

“Everything that a football fan needs… match day action, local club rivalry, modern football politics, trials, crunching tackles, tricks, misses and goals. But this is much more than a book about the beautiful game, because it also has everything that today’s children need as they grow up. It is jam-packed with positive role models, girls involvement in Women’s Football, respect, mental well-being, good work ethic, education and aspiration. Tom Palmer expertly weaves all of this together with friendship, family and a great little plot.” Books for Topics

Previous Rocky Books …

Rocky

Rocky was the sixth and historic book in the Roy of the Rovers series of illustrated middle grade fiction titles starring the classic British children’s football hero rebooted for the 21st century. This time, it’s all about Rocky, Roy’s football-mad younger sister!

A struggling student and brilliant footballer, Rocky Race is many things, but to most people she’s just Roy Race’s little sister. It’s not much fun – especially as Melchester Rovers head to the League Cup Final.

Rocky’s sick of everyone knowing her through Roy, she’s had enough of school, and she’s even started having panic attacks.

Now it’s up to Rocky to find her own way – as a person and a player – and she’s going to need all her grit and determination to do it…

Rocky – read Chapter 1 here

“Rocky is a brilliant role model for girls and boys alike, showing that there is always a way through life’s challenges if you keep going and never give up.” Kate Heap

Game Changer

The newly formed Melchester Women’s team are going from strength to strength in their first full season of professional football, lead by the tenacious Rocky Race. Can she maintain her match-winning performances? And just where does her footballing future lie?

‘I LOVED this book! I love how the story turns from one stage to another. I would definitely recommend it to any girl who enjoys football! I love that Rocky has real determination and passion for the game.’ Jess, Year 5.

Watch out for the new Rocky of the Rovers books out in 2025

Keep in touch with how the series is progressing and get a newsletter reminder when it is out, email “Rocky Reminder” to admin@tompalmer.co.uk .

“Everything that a football fan needs… match day action, local rivalry, modern football politics, trials, crunching tackles, tricks, misses and goals. But this is much more than a book about the beautiful game, because it also has everything that today’s children need as they grow up. It is jam-packed with positive role models, girls involvement in Women’s Football, respect, mental well-being, good work ethic, education and aspiration. Tom Palmer expertly weaves all of this together with friendship, family and a great little plot.” Books for Topics

Watch Rocky & Roy’s whistlestop tour of some real football clubs.

Live Stories with the National Literacy Trust, Rebellion and The Football Association.

Womens World Cup 2019 : Live Story. Readers can follow the adventures of Rocky Race, her brother Roy and her football coach Ffion travelling around France to cheer on the Lionesses. Catch up on the full 2019 story here.

Men’s EURO 2020: Live Story. Catch up on Rocky and Roy of the Rovers in the full “EURO 2020: A Ghost Story” story here.

Reviews

“Can’t endorse these books enough. They’ve given a legend a brilliant new lease of life and are absolutely PACKED with heart. ” Phil Earle

“Packs a lot of punch in its short and simple to read pages… It captures the feel of playing and having a passion for football at an early age very well. More than that it sets out the stall of the new Roy Race, his family background, his friends and enemies, where he lives and his work ethic.” – Comic Scene Magazine

“I give it 5,000,000 stars! I recommend it to 9+ football fans but also non-football fans. I’m not a football fan but I still really enjoyed reading this book. Look out for the graphic novels and the rest of the series. Amazing!” – The Book Brothers

“Football-lovers will love the description of on-pitch action which is pacy yet satisfyingly detailed. This is a book that I am looking forward to putting on the shelves at school – I know already that it will be a popular title amongst our football-loving children (not just boys!).” That Boy Can Teach

“Tom Palmer’s love and knowledge of football is evident in the writing yet he also includes themes of family, anxiety and teenage worries. This is the sort of book that could turn a football fan into a reader and a reader into a football fan. “ A Library Lady

“a brilliant read… the issue of prejudice and racism in football was handled very well and sensitively” Priscilla Mante

Writing Rocky of the Rovers

I’m thrilled to be writing a new series of middle grade fiction for the ROY OF THE ROVERS reboot with internationally acclaimed comics writer Rob Williams (Suicide Squad, Superman: Action Comics) and artist Ben Willsher (2000 AD, Doctor Who Magazine)

Millions of girls and boys dream about being their favourite football player and being scouted and playing for their favourite team. I had that dream. Sadly it didn’t come true for me.

But, being scouted and succeeding in my trial to write Roy of the Rovers fiction is a dream that has come true. There is no other fictional footballer I would rather be and write. And I intend to write these books with the same passion and commitment Roy shows when he pulls on the red and yellow of Melchester Rovers!

Buy Books

Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available personalised to order from my local independent children’s bookshop “The Thoughtful Spot” here.

With an extra special Christmas or birthday card from me on request!

Australia: Boomerang
Canada: Amazon Canada
New Zealand: Wheelers
USA : Indigo books

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