Stephanie Chiocci and the Cooper's Hill cheese chase by Matt Porter

Footy Stars series. Ford St, 2018. ISBN 9781925272888
(Age: 8+) Recommended. Themes: Girls in sport. Football. Cheese. Humour. Sports training. Bullying. This easily read, shorter story tells the story of Stephanie Chiocci going to England to compete in a cheese racing competition. The captain of Collingwood Football League Women's team, Stephanie is the main character in the first of a new series of books based on the lives of elite football stars.
Rolling a cheese down a hill is far harder than it seems, especially when the fate of a family owned cheese business is at stake. Stephanie must not tell her coach where she is or what she is doing as it may interrupt her training regime, but here she finds the skills she needs to catch the cheese are just the same as those she practices for the football match. At first she finds following the cheese difficult, but putting her football skills into practice makes it much easier.
Through the lightly told story is a strong background of football, the skills required, the sportsmanship, the team work, training, and even an outline of the football field. At the end of the story is a brief biography of Steph, and some hints about playing a game of football.
This is the first in a new series called Footy stars, featuring AFLW stars like Chiocci and its humour and fast paced action make them highly readable.
Fran Knight