The Academy

By: T. Z. Layton

Narrated by: James Fouhey

FROM THE PLAYGROUND TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE.

The inspiring, action-packed first book in The Academy series perfect for young readers 7-13 and sports fans of all ages.

Born and raised in a small town, twelve-year-old Leo K. Doyle has never seen the ocean or stepped foot on a plane. But Leo is a star soccer player with big dreams in life.

Rock star, Olympic gold, dragon-slaying dreams.

While Leo longs to make the pros one day, he has no idea how to achieve this goal—until a professional scout pays a chance visit to one of Leo's games and extends an invitation to try out for the London Dragons youth squad, known as the Academy.

Leo is stunned. The London Dragons isn't just any old soccer team. It's a world-famous English Premier League team. Soon Leo is off to a whole new country, embarking on the greatest adventure of his life. The downside? Only eleven players can make the team.

Eleven out of two hundred of the very best twelve-year-old players on the planet.

Along with the grueling competition, Leo must also face a bully intent on torpedoing his summer, a roomie who doesn't know how to have fun, a terrifying camp director, and, most of all, Leo's own lack of formal training and the fear he'll never succeed.

By the end of the summer, Leo will become a much better player and forever changed by his experience. But will he be good enough to make the Academy?

Keep score with the other books in The Academy series:

• The Academy II: The Journey Continues
• The Academy III: Tournament of Champions
• The Academy IV: Title Fight
• The Academy V: Cup of Nations

9 year old loved it!

Easy to read, east to follow the storyline. Great character development. The ending had us cheering, We can’t wait to see what happens to Leo in the second book.

I like soccer

I like Leo k Doyle and Samantha and tig and Jose and Brock and Alejandro and most of all I love high stakes best in the world SOCCER

Perfect for my preteen an young teen

The story engaged my 10, 12 and 13 year old soccer players. They cheered in my car when big scores happened. The author does a great job of describing plays and action on the field so that we could envision the players and actions. It’s chock full of talk about setting goals and working toward them, making good decisions as an athlete and pressure and keeping yourself in the game because it’s fun.

Great listen

we have listened to the first and second one and isn't wait for the third. Academy series has taught my son about competition and has helped him gain a better understanding of the game. The narrator is a perfect fit for this series. We can't wait for the 3rd one.

The storylie

I love this book and can't stop reading it. It has been really well written