Böcker av Peter Erlam

Caress It Like Messi starts on the morning of the 2023 Women's World Cup final, with England missing a clear-cut chance when a header is badly misdirected. Freya, 13, a talented footballer herself, shouts at the TV screen in frustration. But her brother Rye, 8, sympathises: "It happens to me all the time. The ball hits my head and shoots off in any random direction." Rye's corkscrew curls are the problem. They have a crazy, trampoline-like effect on the ball; he has no control over where it lands. Rye's an easy-going kid but when his football pals start calling him names, he slumps. The narrative takes the reader on Rye's path to self- discovery and self-esteem, via Lapland and a meeting with a very famous reindeer who himself had struggles with a standout facial feature which, in the end, proved to be the making of him. With its positive message about developing a thick skin to cope with adversity, it's a tale that will cheer up any child who has faced challenges. It ends with a heart-warming family reunion on Christmas Day.

Journalist Peter Erlam's memoir details his lifelong passion for football and cricket, sports he has played for six decades. It is inspired by his boyhood hero Denis Law and driven by a misguided fantasy that one day he could line up alongside the Manchester United star. More realistically, the narrative develops around his pursuit of the autographs of the United Trinity, George Best, Bobby Charlton and, of course, the 'Lawman'. Goals Ga-law! starts with the author standing on an upturned beer crate on the Old Trafford terraces to get a better view of the action as a nine-year-old. It concludes 60 years later on Malta with the author representing Kent Seniors in an ill-fated cricket tournament. Randomly, Law has an interesting link with the island stretching back to the season United became the first English side to enjoy European Cup glory. Running through the book like a golden thread is Erlam's admiration for a man who had an unerring eye for scoring goals - 237 for the club and 30 for Scotland - despite him suffering from a serious squint as a youngster.

When wartime leader Winston Churchill was told to stub out his cigar during a visit to Ramsgate, he was not pleased: "There goes a good 'un!" he said, before being guided to safety in the town's network of air-raid tunnels. But what happened to his throwaway cigar? For 80 years, the mystery remained unsolved. Until Ravi the brainy raven arrived on the scene...