ALA Booklist

Aspiring soccer champion Paulo Marcelo Feliciano presents himself prior to the title page, declaring, Soon I will shine like a star. . . . like Garrincha, Pelé, and Ronaldo, / who have all played in these alleys. Paulo introduces his teammates as they toil in various settings. At the end of their workday, the team gathers for a pickup soccer game where Paulo's sister, the only one who attends school, scores the winning goal with a dramatic bicycle kick. Paulo's enthusiasm for soccer is infectious, but the story also reveals Brazilian poverty, in which boys must work rather than attend school. Alarcão, himself from Brazil, provides scenes of modest homes stacked on a hillside, narrow passageways, and children at work more than at play. Still, the energetic art, rendered in sepia ink with digital coloration, also reflects Paulo's passion and exuberance, and views of fishing boats in the ocean and the hillside homes at twilight are especially dramatic. With the 2016 Olympics coming to Brazil, this is a timely story, but Paulo's dream will resonate with soccer fans long before and after that event.

Horn Book

Soft-textured sepia-ink drawings illustrate Javaherbin's touching tribute to Brazilian children trying to better their lives via the country's beloved sport--kids like Paulo, who dreams of soccer stardom so his mother "won't have to work long hours." Rich, spare text and the art picture the seaside setting and cement the story's "homage to all soccer stars who...rise up from poverty."

Kirkus Reviews

A soccer story with a gender-equality twist. The sense of place is established from the title page with an illustration of the young protagonist flying a kite in his Brazilian neighborhood. Paulo loves to play soccer and one day hopes to be a famous soccer star. While he walks his sister, Maria, to school, they practice soccer moves. Paulo then makes his way to the fishing boat where he works, greeting his teammates along the way; they, like him, work during the day and play soccer afterward. There's a lull in pacing in the middle of the story, but it quickly picks up with the "big game." While Paulo respects Maria's soccer skills, his teammates won't let her play—until one of them is injured, and she then scores. Alarcão expertly captures the motion of Maria's triumphant, scoring bicycle kick, but it's too bad there is no illustration that shows the team explicitly welcoming her into the fold. That's a minor quibble, as it's downright refreshing to see illustrations that realistically relay the diversity of shades found among Brazilians. Javaherbin deftly handles Paulo and Maria's poverty with honesty while simultaneously refraining from sugarcoating, overemphasizing or romanticizing it. Perhaps most importantly, Javaherbin shows that being poor doesn't stop people from having lives and dreams. A lovely story about soccer, gender and hope. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Javaherbin follows Goal! with another moving story drawn from the world of soccer, this time focusing on a Brazilian boy named Paolo with big dreams for himself and his neighborhood team. Paolo-s sense of hope is almost tangible in Alarcão-s cinematically lit ink drawings, which show Paolo visiting his friends (like Paolo, they are all working to support their families). During the team-s big match, Paolo finally allows his sister to join the team, a decision that-s both a small-scale victory and a symbol of promise on a larger scale: -It-s up to me, and my vote is for change.- Ages 5-8. (Apr.)

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3 Paulo Marcelo Feliciano (aka Felino) dreams of rescuing his mother from long hours at work by achieving glory on the soccer field. As the story opens, the boy and his sister, Maria, set out for the day, bringing with them a bag of their mother's delicious cheese buns. Along the way, they dribble and kick the soccer ball. Maria longs to play in a game with her brother, but the "team's rule is no girls ." Leaving Maria at school, Felino heads for the shore, where his boss waits by his fishing boat. Growing up impoverished in Brazil, Felino and his friends all work to help their families. Over the course of the day, Felino encounters Carlos, Jose, Givo, and Pedro, sharing his cheese buns with his teammates. He spends a long day on the water but finally returns to the beach, and the game begins. When Jose, the goalie, injures his wrist, Givo takes his place at the net, and the team calls Maria from the sidelines, refusing to let a "useless old rule" stand in the way of victory. Alarc&7;o's luminous digitally colored sepia-ink illustrations elegantly portray the setting. The joyful expressions of the players as they dribble, knee, and bicycle kick the ball around the sandy soccer field reinforce the story's positive and inspiring tone. Readers who love the game will cheer on Felino and his team of hopeful soccer stars. Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston, MA