Her Boots, Her Books

My name is Nell and I live in the North East of England. ​Growing up, I loved reading, and tried pretty much every sport under the sun, except football. In fact, I had never seen a single game. Like many others, that changed following the glory of the 2022 Euros.

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I previously studied for a BA in English Literature, followed by a Master's in Children's Literature, before briefly working in a secondary school supporting pupils with SEN.​ I have since moved into the corporate world, but still always have some kind of personal research project on the go.​

In the summer of 2024, I started looking at the depictions of women's football in children's literature. I could find a fair amount about depictions of men's football, but very little about women's. I have to admit I wasn't that surprised by that, but I was more surprised when I found that the number of books published was also very low.​ ​When trying to track down books, I found myself largely dependent on disparate lists and compilations scattered across the internet, often hidden in amongst lists about sports more broadly. The UK Football / American Football / Soccer differentiation often complicated this further.

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I was starting to create an offline list for myself, but realised this might be of use to others too - hence this blog.​​ If you decide to buy a new book for your shelves, please consider supporting local libraries and bookstores.