THE Newcastle United Learning Centre, with its unrivalled and state of the art facilities, was the venue for the launch of Michael Foreman's childrens book Wonder Goal!

Like many children all over the world a small boy dreams of winning the World Cup! But in the meantime, scoring the perfect, time-stopping goal would be just fine. And once you've done that, who knows what the future might hold?

Older people cling to the same dream, like Michael Foreman who still keeps a pair of football boots in his cupboard and is still waiting for his call from the England squad! In the meantime, he can at least realise his dreams in glorious watercolours that capture both the drama and the magic of 'the beautiful game'.

Wonder Goal! is that end product, a 32 page hardback book with football as its underlying theme. Michael was joined for the launch at St James' Park by children from Byker Primary School.

Michael has written and illustrated over 200 books and this latest one, which took him approximately six months to do, is one he had always dreamt about doing. He said: "It is terrific to be at such a wonderful venue to launch Wonder Goal!.

"I have been drawing football players for as long as I can remember and this particular book captures all the emotions, excitement and dreams of a young footballer."

Phil McBride, Centre Manager at the Newcastle United Learning Centre, said: "We were delighted to welcome Michael to our Learning Centre at St. James Park. Having seen the book myself it's a great read and I am sure it will be a great success."

Michael Foreman was born in Suffolk in 1938, and studied at Lowestoft School of Art, St Martin's, London, and the Royal College of Art, where he won a scholarship to the USA in 1963. He has worked as an Art Director at various magazines and still works as Art Editor of the literary journal Ambit.

He has also made animated films in Scandinavia and for the BBC. His first book, The General, (a picture book published in 1961), dealt with disarmament and received rave reviews. Since then he has illustrated more than thirty of his own books and over a hundred by authors as varied as Shakespeare, J.M. Barrie, the Brothers Grimm and former Python, Terry Jones.

He has established a reputation as one of the world's leading illustrators and has won numerous prizes including the Smarties Prize, the Kate Greenaway Medal (twice), the Francis Williams Prize (twice) and the Aigle d'Argent at the Festival International du Livre in France.

Book details:
WONDER GOAL! by Michael Foreman
Hardback Picture Book published by the Anderson Press
£9.99
ISBN: 1842700839
Ages 4+
32 pages