Peléé L e gend r e c c o S by Janet Woodward ©Getty Images; 4–7 Vasja Koman ©Harcourt Education Australia; 8–11 ©Getty Images; 12 ©CESAR FERRARI/Reuters/Picture Media; 13–14 ©Getty Images Copyright © by Harcourt, Inc All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to School Permissions and Copyrights, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777 Fax: 407-345-2418 HARCOURT and the Harcourt Logo are trademarks of Harcourt, Inc., registered in the United States of America and/or other jurisdictions Printed in Mexico ISBN 10: 0-15-351414-0 ISBN 13: 978-0-15-351414-2 Ordering Options ISBN 10: 0-15-351212-1 (Grade Advanced Collection) ISBN 13: 978-0-15-351212-4 (Grade Advanced Collection) ISBN 10: 0-15-358049-6 (package of 5) ISBN 13: 978-0-15-358049-9 (package of 5) If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Harcourt School Publishers retains title to the materials and they may not be resold Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited and is illegal Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format 10 050 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 Soccer legend Pelé is from Brazil, a country in South America There were three children in his family They lived with his parents, his grandmother, and his mom’s brother The family was poor This didn’t stop Pelé from making his dream come true He wanted to be a top soccer player, and he was As a child, Pelé helped his uncle sell wood Pelé also sold peanuts and shined shoes to make money When he wasn’t working, Pelé would play soccer with his neighbors He was a wonderful player The neighborhood children played in bare feet They didn’t always have a soccer ball Sometimes they had to use a can, a grapefruit, a coconut, or rolled up socks This didn’t matter to Pelé though He said, “Everything is practice.” Pelé’s father helped Pelé learn to play soccer His dad had been a good soccer player He had to give it up because of a knee problem Like his dad, Pelé learned to knock the ball into the goal with his head Pelé (the third player from the left) with the Brazilian National soccer team in 1958 At eighteen, Pelé joined the army in Brazil for one year He began playing soccer for an army team Then he played for Brazil’s national team The World Cup is the biggest prize in soccer Pelé is still the only person who has played on three World Cup winning teams He helped Brazil to win in 1958, 1962, and 1970 10 In 1969, people cheered when Pelé scored goal number 1,000 of his soccer career This made him the player to score the most goals ever in soccer Even today, no player has caught up with him 11 Pelé has used his success to help other people He has asked people to pay attention to the children of the world He has helped raise a lot of money 12 Today Pelé continues to raise money and help other people He is Minister of Sports in Brazil He helps soccer players and teams all over the country 13 Pelé never gave up His family didn’t have much money, but he never lost sight of his dream He always tried his best That’s what made him one of the world’s greatest soccer players 14 Think Critically What country is Pelé from? How can you tell that this book is nonfiction? How can you tell that Pelé is caring? Did you think Pelé would become famous? Why? How does this book about Pelé make you feel? Social Studies Make a Time Line Using the information from the book, make a time line of Pelé’s soccer career School-Home Connection Tell a family member about the book Talk about a time when someone helped you learn something new Word Count: 423 15