Keeper

Story

El Gato (the Cat) the world’s greatest goalkeeper gives an interview to football journalist Paul Faustina and tells the extraordinary story of his rise to fame which started when a gangly awkward boy from a logging camp in the rainforest met the mysterious Keeper who had been waiting for a boy to train..

Why we chose it

A story about football set in South America with all the action, the tension, the agony and the ecstasy of the game.

Where it came from

Keeper was Mal Peet’s first novel. He said it was ‘an attempt to write magically about football’. Many children read football stories because they love football and there have been a number of literacy initiatives to link young football fans with books. Peet wanted to give them a football story full of magic as well as the romance of the game.

Where it went next

Keeper won the Branford Bose Award and the Bronze Nestle Children’s Book Award.

Associated stories

The Penalty was Peet’s second book about Paul Faustina, who this time is investigating the disappearance of a teenage striker. Faustino also appears in Exposure, Peet’s third South American football novel. Based on Othello it tells the story of a black football star married to a white pop singer.