Being Part of a Team
(2026)(The first book in the Inspiring Sports Stories for Children Everywhere series)
A novel by Hermione Rose Higgs and Steve Higgs
She was the best player on her team. Then she moved to a new town — and became nobody.
Ella Brooks has lost everything that mattered. Her home, her friends, her club. Dragged across the country to a small town she never wanted to live in, she arrives at the Northfield Renegades knowing no one, certain of nothing, and absolutely terrified she's about to make a fool of herself.
The Renegades are good. Really good. And on her first day, Ella can't even trap the ball cleanly.
But football has a way of finding the people who love it most. When the team captain decides she sees something in the nervous new girl that Ella can't yet see in herself, things slowly start to change. Messily. Imperfectly. With a lot of mud, one unforgettable team sleepover, and a snoring incident that will go down in Renegades’ history.
Being Part of a Team is a story for anyone who loves sports and especially football. It is also a story for every boy or girl who has ever walked into a room full of strangers and wondered whether they would ever truly belong. It is about the friends who believe in you before you believe in yourself, the coach who sees your potential before you do, and the moment you stop playing scared and show the world exactly what you are made of.
By the final whistle, your child will know that confidence isn't something you are born with. It is something you build — one brave decision at a time.
Genre: Children's Fiction
Ella Brooks has lost everything that mattered. Her home, her friends, her club. Dragged across the country to a small town she never wanted to live in, she arrives at the Northfield Renegades knowing no one, certain of nothing, and absolutely terrified she's about to make a fool of herself.
The Renegades are good. Really good. And on her first day, Ella can't even trap the ball cleanly.
But football has a way of finding the people who love it most. When the team captain decides she sees something in the nervous new girl that Ella can't yet see in herself, things slowly start to change. Messily. Imperfectly. With a lot of mud, one unforgettable team sleepover, and a snoring incident that will go down in Renegades’ history.
Being Part of a Team is a story for anyone who loves sports and especially football. It is also a story for every boy or girl who has ever walked into a room full of strangers and wondered whether they would ever truly belong. It is about the friends who believe in you before you believe in yourself, the coach who sees your potential before you do, and the moment you stop playing scared and show the world exactly what you are made of.
By the final whistle, your child will know that confidence isn't something you are born with. It is something you build — one brave decision at a time.
Genre: Children's Fiction
Used availability for Steve Higgs's Being Part of a Team