David Bedford
The Team series
The Team series is now made up of nine fast-paced junior novels for emerging readers aged 7 to 11 and above.
The series is published in Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey, as well as in the UK.
Titles 1 to 6 are currently available as two bumper trilogies:
The Team includes the first three titles, The Football Machine, Top of the League, and Soccer Camp.
The Team Strikes Again is made up of Superteam, Banned! and Masters of Soccer.
Young footballers will love these books.
Just how does a team that is bottom of the league improve its position? These lively, imaginative stories will give struggling footballers some ideas. The team does have the advantage of the ingenuity of Professor Gertie and the skill of the robot Mark 1, providing the players with all kinds of gadgets such as bouncing boots and goalie gloves with finger rockets.
Probably the greatest help the team receive from the Professor and Mark 1 though is support and encouragement. So the message is that teamwork and perseverance pay off. You’ll need to read the books yourself to find out whether the team win the league after all.
The books are aimed at newly independent readers and are generously illustrated in black and white. They are great fun to read and are highly recommended.
Mary Crawford,The School Librarian
Where did the idea come from?
The Team Series began unexpectedly, while I was in the middle of writing a completely different story - one about pirates. As if from nowhere, a voice spoke in my head:
‘Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish! Football is the only thing I’m good at - and I’m still rubbish!’
The words caught me by surprise, and I wrote them down on a scrap of paper. As I did so, I changed it: ‘Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!’ said Harvey. ‘Football is the only thing I’m good at - and I’m still rubbish!’
Before I knew what I was doing, I had abandoned the pirate story, and was writing about Harvey. About his football team (who I called just ‘The Team’). And about how The Team had never even scored a goal.
I soon discovered that Harvey lived next to a scientist, Professor Gertie, and that Prof Gertie had begun inventing crazy gadgets to help The Team win. First there were Bouncing Boots - springs on the bottom of Harvey’s football boots, to help him jump. Then came a Smoke Machine in the back of Harvey’s shorts, so that he could disappear in a cloud of smoke and avoid being tackled.
Prof Gertie’s inventions, of course, never fully worked. The Team were still losing - badly. They needed more help. And so the Professor designed her greatest ever invention: Mark 1, the Football Machine. With a top speed 60 km/hr, and a brain dedicated solely to football, surely he will help The Team win at last...
Writing about Harvey and The Team is exciting. Harvey always has problems to solve, and I’ve got to help him solve them. Professor Gertie helps - and causes mayhem. Mark 1 seems to be coming alive, like Pinnochio, and no one can guess what he’ll do next. And the rest of The Team, namely Steffi, Matt, Darren and Rita, have their own opinions about everything, too!
‘Aw, shucks!’ as Mark 1 likes to say.
Illustrator
One of the great chance meetings I’ve had was when I bumped into Keith Brumpton, author and illustrator, and creator of the TV series MI High. I asked Keith if he would illustrate these books for me, and his drawings of the characters, and especially the Football Machine, have been inspirational for my writing later books in the series.
The Football Machine
Harvey's team always loses. But Professor Gertie, Harvey's neighbour, thinks she has the perfect solution: Mark 1, the Soccer Machine. He has a metal body covered with Squidgy Skin, a top speed of 60km/h, and he's programmed to win.
isbn 978-1877003349
Top of the League
The Team are on top! They only need one more point to win the league. But when Darren, the goalkeeper, lets in an easy shot, the rest of The Team are furious. Suddenly they're all arguing - and losing. Will Harvey's brainwave save The Team - or is he being just too silly?
isbn 978-1877003370
Soccer Camp
The Team are about to play the Best of the Best at Soccer Camp, but if anyone finds out they've brought a robot instead of a responsible grown-up, they'll be sent home immediately. Luckily, Mark 1, the Football Machine, is in disguise...
isbn 978-1877003523
Superteam
Harvey has spent his entire life savings on a pair of Armadillo Aces, the best soccer boots money can buy. But when Professor Gertie melts them, and rich kid Jackie Spoyle starts trying to buy up The Team, Harvey is desperate. He needs to play. He needs to keep The Team together. He needs boots - now.
isbn 978-1877003639
Banned!
The Team are competing for the Floodlights Cup! The problem is, Harvey has been spending too much time dreaming up new moves for The Team, and not enough time on his schoolwork. Harvey's teacher is not impressed, and bans Harvey from playing soccer. Can The Team win without him?
isbn 978-1877003929
Masters of Soccer!
Harvey and Darren only want to play soccer. But their headmistress, Mrs Pinto, has other ideas. She needs two strong lads for her new project: ballet! And she already has leotards with Harvey and Darren's names on them... This is Harvey's most desperate and tense adventure so far.
isbn 978-1921049347
Football Rules
Harvey is having a bad match. It's too hot. The Team can't score. And then when they do, the Ref says it wasn't a goal. Harvey gets so angry he tells the Ref he isn't doing his job properly... Then Harvey gets his first ever Red Card. He has to leave the field. He won't be able to play in next week's Cup Final. And the worst punishment of all is - he has to go to Referee School!
isbn 978-1921541278
Soccer Superstars
The Team are on a high. They have just won the Superstars Record for the most unbeaten matches. It's one of the oldest records in the league. The problem is, the record is jinxed.
Bonk! Steffi and Matt crash heads. Snap! Harvey's shot breaks the crossbar.
And then Mark 1, the genius football machine, starts playing for their opponents!
isbn 978-1921541285
World Cup Heroes
The Team have achieved everything Harvey had dreamed they would. They've won a silver trophy, medals, league titles, and they hold the Superstars Record. Harvey, though, has been having a new dream. In it, The Team are playing in the World Cup final... and they're winning! Can Harvey's impossible dream be about to come true?
isbn 978-1921541292
The Team Trilogy
The Football Machine, Top of the League and Soccer Camp are now available as a trilogy in one action-packed, bumper edition.
isbn 978-1921272042
The Team Strikes Again
A second trilogy containing books 4,5 and 6 in the series: Superteam, Banned! and Masters of Soccer.
isbn 978-1921272844