by Bali Rai
illustrated by Daniel Duncan
 
Longlisted for the Little Rebels Award 2025
Red for Empathy Collection 2025 
Bobby Bains loves football, Liverpool FC and his Sikh-practising family: Mum and Nana-Ji. While out helping his mum deliver food to the local community, Bobby comes across a lonely elderly resident, Trevor (a man of colour) a widower and a former footballer who now nurses arthritic knees and lives quietly with his sadness: “There’s nothing worth going out for”, he says. Bobby tell him that his Nana-Ji was also widowed and was “one of the first Asians to watch City Play”. Joining them on the doorstep, Nana-Ji tunes in to the music coming from Trevor’s flat and enthuses that reggae “was the soundtrack to my youth”. All of these shared passions inspire Bobby, a child ever-keen to live up to the Sikh tenet of “selfless service”, to lure Trevor (a “cool old dude, like Nana-ji”) back out in to the world- something he succeeds in by establishing an accessible, friendly local walking football group. 
 
This short chapter book is rich with areas for discussion. Trevor’s social isolation coincides with food poverty, a topic also made explicit by Mum’s food bank job and Bobby’s classroom’s discussion about hunger. And, while Bobby's finely attuned empathy is largely motivated by faith, there is also a broader narrative of socialist collective care. We loved the ending in which the Bains family invite Trevor to a [vegetarian] Christmas dinner. [Single parent/mum and extended family]. Reading age: 8+ Interest: 9+, Paperback 87pp
 
Themes: Mental Health and Wellbeing Themes: Diverse Families