Specky Magee and the Battle of the Young Guns

Specky Magee and the Battle of the Youngs Guns will be available in bookstores  in Grand Final Week from Wednesday, September 23rd – at long last!!

In the lastest installment of Specky Magee it’s the ultimate battle of the young guns! As Specky battles it out in the state carnival for a chance to play on the hallowed MCG turf, back at school he has a fight on his hands just to be allowed to play with his beloved Booyong Lions.  When his long-lost grandpa comes to visit, it’s an all-out war at home as well… This September Specky’s loyalty to his friends, his team and to AFL will be tested like never before.

Click here to watch Felice Arena and Garry Lyon’s promo video for Specky Magee and the Battle of the Young Guns.

Whet your appetite and read an extract from Chapter Two.

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Footy Day at SMOT

We love AFL football at our school and look forward to our Footy Day each year.  We all come dressed in our footy team’s colours and there is a lot of friendly rivalry for the day!   This  year our guest footballers were Michael Hurley and David Zaharakis from Essendon.  Both players are in their first year playing for the Bombers and told us how they made it to AFL level.  Michael and David are local boys and played together at the Northern Knights.  David had a game he will never forget when he kicked the winning goal at the MCG on Anzac Day that helped Essendon beat Collingwood!

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 We were also VERY lucky to have a visit from Anthony Koutoufides  who used to play for Carlton.  He was very impressed with the large number of Carlton supporters at SMOT.  Anthony explained that now he has retired from football he is doing some radio work and runs his own souvlaki business. 

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 I am STILL waiting for some North Melbourne footballers to come for a visit on Footy Day!!

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A BIG day in football!!

Friday was a BIG day in football for our school! The much anticipated day of Mark Schwarzer’s visit had finally arrived. Mark Schwarzer and Neil Montagnana were coming to launch their fourth book in the Megs series called “Megs and the Complete Left Foot”.

Mark and Neil’s first stop was the LRC to meet a very excited Matthew and his proud family because Matthew had won Mark’s visit for our school.

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Neil showed Mark the letter that Matthew had written and sent in with his petition to get Mark to visit our school.

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Matthew had the opportunity to chat with Mark and to have a few photos with him. I’m sure Matthew be putting this picture with Mark up on his wall! What a dream come true…

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Next to meet Mark were an excited group of children who had written letters to me explaining why they wanted to meet Mark. These children had the wonderful opportunity to snuggle in close with Mark and listen to him read the first chapter from his new book. The looks on their faces were priceless and you could have heard a pin drop as Mark read to them. There were also lots of pictures taken with Mark to promote the book. One of the photos was in the Herald Sun on Saturday!

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By now the whole school was assembled and waiting in anticipation for Mark and Neil. As we walked down to the hall we were greeted by the cheers of “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!!” Mark and Neil entered the hall to cheers and a sea of green and gold and an array of soccer jumpers.

I had the job of welcoming Mark and Neil and talking about their Megs series. It was about this time that I was quite overwhelmed by the fact that I was standing next to Mark Schwarzer and realised just how tall he really is!! (Probably another reason why Mark is the Socceroos goal keeper and I’m not!)

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From the responses in the interview we discovered that through Mark and Neil’s shared passion for football they wanted to write books that would encourage children who play sport to pick up a book and read about a sport that interested them. They write for boys and girls because the number of girls playing soccer is steadily increasing. Mark and Neil both contribute to the writing process by using Skype to talk to each other. Mark is a night owl so it is late at night in England when he talks to Neil in the morning here. They are planning one more book in the series to be released next year with the World Cup finals. They are currently taking the Megs books on tour through country Victoria. They love meeting their readers and have lots of fun travelling together on their road trip!

Mark and Neil used Bailey’s football to give us a demonstration of juggling using their feet, thighs and heads. It was very exciting, but I was hoping that Mark wouldn’t injure himself!!

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About 15 lucky students then had the opportunity to ask Neil and Mark some questions. Neil explained to Monica that is is handy to be both a publisher and author because you get more say in the design and layout of the book, but it is also lots of work doing both jobs.

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Mark told Bradley that he has been a goal keeper since he was 10 years old. No wonder he is so good because he has been saving goals for 26 years!!

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Mark doesn’t know how many goals he has saved in his soccer career but he told Caitlin that he hopes he has saved enough goals!

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Mark laughed when Luca asked if being an international soccer player was as good as it looked. He did say that it is a bit like living in a fantasy world and you have to do normal things with your family.

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Before we knew it we had to wrap up the interview questions because Mark needed time to sign our books and then fulfil his media commitments. He is very much in demand by the media! Our Preps got a wonderful surprise when Mark stepped down to sit in amongst them for a photo!

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We had time for one final cheer for Mark and Neil to say thank you for giving their time to come and visit our school…what an AMAZING morning and a wonderful way to christen our new school hall!!

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Many of us were very excited to see our school on the Channel 7 and 9 News that night!

The students in 4V wrote their reports about Mark and Neil’s visit. You can read some of them below.

 

Mark Schwarzer is coming to SMOT!!!

Last Thursday we received very exciting news that Mark Schwarzer, goal keeper of the Socceroos is coming to visit us at SMOT!!!

This is all thanks to Matthew P in 4VL who loves both soccer and reading. Matthew reads the Megs series by Neil Montagnana-Wallace and Mark Schwarzer. It is about Edward “Megs” Morrison, a boy who leaves his home in England to move to Australia with his parents and soccer is a way he finds to settle into his new home and make friends.  These books are great reading for boys and girls who love soccer. Visit the Megs Morrison  website to find out more.

Matthew entered a competition to get Mark Schwarzer to your school. He collected as many signatures as he could and sent them in with a letter. Matthew received a phone call from Neil Montagna-Wallace to tell him he had won!!! Congratulations Matthew and thank you for your wonderful efforts. What a fantastic example of great things happening to people who read!

On Friday, June 19th we will be visited by Neil and Mark who will do the media launch for their fourth book in the series called “Megs and the Complete Left Foot”. Mark will talk to the whole school as well.

You will be able to order pre-order your book for Mark to sign on the day by sending your order and money to the LRC.

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Don’t forget to congratulate and thank Matthew for entering and winning the competition…

Do you play soccer for a team?  What do you like about soccer?  Do you follow a soccer team?

 

Footy's Back and Book 7 of Specky Magee is being written!

For those of us who are Specky Magee fans it is welcome news on the Specky Magee website that Felice Arena and Garry Lyon are finally writing the next book in the Specky Magee series.  Let’s hope ths book comes out some time during this footy season!

On the Specky Magee website you can enter the footy tipping competition.  There is a weekly prize of a $50 Penguin book pack if you tip the most winners for the round.  The end of year winner (most correct tips for the year) wins $500 worth of Penguin books of their choice!!!  This sounds like my kind of competiton – football AND books!!