6 Soccer Books for Young Readers: Male vs Female Main Characters

As young readers develop, they choose to read books that relate to who they are or who they want to become. For middle-grade youth, this identity is often related to athletics. In this study, we examined the in-print young adult literature where soccer plays an integral role in the plot. Using our pre-determined and pilot-tested codebook and codes, we recorded trends in elements such as plot, settings, and themes. We considered character traits related to gender, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity, and went beyond to examine positions played, skill level in soccer, attitudes towards soccer, and relationships between characters. We further recorded the amount and types of “soccer” present in each title, from informal play to practices and games to simply talking about soccer.

In examining the typical characteristics, main character gender came to the forefront as a pivotal element. One of the most noticeable findings was that the books had a nearly 50/50 split between male and female main characters with no other genders present. This finding led us to examine significant relationships between male main characters and other characteristics and female main characters and other characteristics. Three major relationships emerged:

•  Relationship of main character gender to author gender: If the author self-identifies as a male, the main character’s gender is male. No self-identifying male authors wrote female main characters; self-identifying female authors wrote both female and male main characters.
• Relationship of main character gender to soccer position: If the main character is a keeper, then he is a male. There are no female keepers.
• Relationship of main character gender to secondary character gender: If the main character is a male, then the secondary character (the best friend) is also a male. If the main character is a female, then the secondary character (the best friend) has an equal chance of being female or male.

When selecting soccer books for middle-grade youth, educators should know that there are almost as many books with female main characters as male main characters. However, the books with male main characters are very male-dominated while books with female main characters are more likely to balance male and female perspectives.