About the Author

Award-winning author Tanya Preminger strongly believes in the power of literature as a means to growth, education, and the cultivation of curious, compassionate, happy children. Her books appeared on the best selling list in the US, UK, Germany and Italy and translated to German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Hindi, Japanese and Chinese. Tanya was born in Russia, spent years in the US, and currently resides in Israel with her partner and their son.

Reviews

"We loved reading this book together! This book inspired my son to get back into playing soccer. The book has just the right amount of pictures to keep kids engaged, but plenty of reading to keep their brains busy! I was very impressed with the layout of the book and the way it kept my son reading, when he usually gets distracted half-way through a chapter book. He couldn't wait to find out what happened next, and to read the next book in the series!""My kids love soccer, so this book was a good choice for my daughter since she is also in second grade like Sean. Even though she is not as familiar with all of the professional soccer leagues, she did like this story. At first she thought it was about a messy boy, but now she is interested in finding out more about Lionel Messi. One of her favorite parts about the story was the illustrations. We could both visualize the games and scrimmages from the description. We talked about each chapter and Sean's feeling and why he acted the way he did in new situations. With topics like bullying, dealing with fears and challenges, and setting goals, there is a lot that we can discuss with our children. As a mom and an educator, I could relate to working with a child who was very active and often had difficulty focusing on school work. I would definitely consider other books by the author with characters about the same age and more themes for my child.""This book and the situation described is realistic and brings back memories!!! Ms. Preminger has done a wonderful job in capturing a real life issue that many parents face when helping a child overcome a fear. A great bedtime story book to be read over and over again.""Sean Wants to Be Messi is an inspiring, relatable story for any young sports fan. It is funny, thoughtful and a great way to open kid friendly discussions on getting frustrated, trying again, work ethic, believing in yourself and having a dream. As parents we are not perfect and I appreciate the reality of the adult characters, the conflicts we face and the fine line between encouraging and allowing a child to be who they are in the moment. Beautiful illustrations and of course the book is a double score for any Messi fan!! Buying another copy for my nephew and all the little soccer fans in our lives, the personalized version, will make for an extra special gift.""As the owner of a summer camp, I was looking for some good books to add to our SEL (Social Emotional Learning) library. I was recommended this book and we're adding it to our collection. This book is a great one to read with any primary aged child, boy or girl. You can hook them with the soccer/sports angle, but the book is a great tool to talk about tough emotions like shyness, fear, frustration and uplifting ones like confidence, kindness and love. Great for facilitating a discussion about role models and family roles as well. Highly recommend for parents or schools and organizations with readers of different levels.""We really enjoyed the book, even though our kids don't like football it resonates a good lesson which is familiar to all children and parents alike- to pursue your dreams and work hard. A good lesson for parents- to listen to their children and find out why they behave the way they do, just like Sean distracting behavior is underlined by fear of failure, he faces it and wins. I like the ending where his passion for football gets him to do his math work- that is how we should engage with our children and their school work. The illustrations are lovely, makes the book come alive."