The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! Goal! Jack and Annie have tickets to one of the most exciting soccer games ever—the 1970 World Cup! They are sure the famous soccer player Pelé will tell them a “secret of greatness.” The game is nonstop action and the stands are packed. But how will they find Pelé in a crowd of 100,000 soccer fans? Have they failed their mission? Or will the answer come when they least expect it? Formerly numbered as Magic Tree House #52, the title of this book is now Magic Tree House Merlin Mission #24: Soccer on Sunday. Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid? Magic Tree House: Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced reader Super Edition: A longer and more dangerous adventure Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

Travel with Jack and Annie to the deep, dark ocean to encounter the stealthiest of underwater predators: the shark! Jack and Annie are going on vacation! Or so they think. Teddy, the young sorcerer, has promised them a relaxing time off the coast of Mexico. The magic tree house whisks them away to a beautiful sandy beach, and Jack and Annie are ready to raft on the ocean waves. But when a hungry shark attacks, their dream vacation turns into a nightmare! Did you know there’s a Magic Tree House book for every reader? Find the perfect book for you: Magic Tree House®: Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just starting to read chapter books. F&P Level M. Magic Tree House® Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced Magic Tree House® reader. F&P Level M–N. Magic Tree House® Super Edition: A longer and more dangerous adventure with Jack and Annie. F&P Level P. Magic Tree House® Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House® adventures. F&P Levels N–T.

David Beckham’s arrival in Los Angeles represents the latest attempt to jump-start soccer in the United States where, David Wangerin says, it “remains a minority sport.” With the rest of the globe so resolutely attached to the game, why is soccer still mostly dismissed by Americans? Calling himself “a soccer fan born in the wrong country at nearly the wrong time,” Wangerin writes with wit and passion about the sport’s struggle for acceptance in Soccer in a Football World. A Wisconsin native, he traces the fragile history of the game from its early capitulation to gridiron on college campuses to the United States’ impressive performance at the 2002 World Cup. Placing soccer in the context of American sport in general, he chronicles its enduring struggle alongside the country’s more familiar pursuits and recounts the shifting attitudes toward the “foreign” game. His story is one that will enrich the perspective of anyone whose heart beats for the sport, and is curious as to where the game has been in America—and where it might be headed.

Star-Spangled Soccer traces the development of soccer in the USA. It is the first book that tells the story of how the sport rose to extreme highs and suffered almost catastrophic lows as it fought to position itself on the American sports landscape, beginning with the announcement from FIFA in 1988 that America would host the 1994 World Cup.

For use in schools and libraries only. Soccer on Sunday will take Jack and Annie to a soccer field in Mexico where they must find the final secret of greatness for Merlin. On the field, they'll meet a young soccer player who dreams of one day playing in the World Cup just like his hero, the great Brazilian soccer player, Pele! The Magic Tree House books, with their fiction and nonfiction titles, are perfect for parents and teachers just starting to get into the "Core Curriculum." With a blend of magic, adventure, history, science, danger, and cuteness, the topics range from kid pleasers (pirates, the Titanic, pandas) to curriculum perfect (rain forest, American Revolution, Abraham Lincoln) to seasonal shoe-ins (Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving). There is truly something for everyone here!