Mathieu was a typical 7-year-old boy from the U.S. But, he was a huge fan of the professional soccer teams in Europe, especially the teams in the French league, Ligue 1. When Mathieu was not playing soccer, he was watching soccer videos on his iPad. He always looked the part, too, wearing uniforms of players on his favorite team, Paris Saint-Germain. His focus on the ball continued when he traveled to the Ivory Coast with his family on an annual trip where he met Jean.
 
Jean was a 6-year-old Ivoirien boy who also loved soccer. Like Mathieu he played every chance he got. Also like Mathieu, Jean idolized his favorite player on the National Ivory Coast team, Didier Drogba. He wanted nothing more than to wear a jersey with the famous forward’s name and number, but those were difficult to find where he lived in the south of the Ivory Coast near the North Atlantic Ocean.
 
In this level 2 book in the past tense, readers learn about the culture of the Ivory Coast and how a soccer jersey further connects two soccer-obsessed boys from two different countries.
 
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5537 total words; ~294 unique; ~165 cognates.