The Kicks started as a four-book middle-grade series co-written by Olympic soccer star Alex Morgan. The first book, Kicking Off, introduces Devin Burke, a talented soccer player who moves from Connecticut to California and joins a struggling soccer team called the Kentville Kangarines (they go by "the Kicks"). The team is a mess—they haven't won a game in ages, morale is low, and cliques are firmly established.

Devin has to navigate being the new kid, dealing with mean-girl dynamics, missing her old friends, and somehow helping turn this ragtag team into actual competitors. It's The Baby-Sitters Club meets sports drama, with genuine soccer action and surprisingly nuanced takes on leadership and team dynamics.

In 2016, Amazon Prime adapted the series into a live-action show. It's one of those rare cases where the adaptation is actually quite faithful and well-done—the casting is solid, the production values are decent, and they didn't try to age it up or add unnecessary drama.

It's about being the outsider. Every kid has felt like the new person at some point—new school, new team, new friend group. Devin's experience of walking into an established social ecosystem and trying to find her footing is incredibly relatable. She makes mistakes, misreads situations, and has to figure out how to earn trust rather than demand it.

The soccer is real. Alex Morgan's involvement means the soccer content isn't just window dressing. Kids who play sports will recognize the dynamics—the pressure of competition, the frustration of losing, the complicated feelings when a teammate is also a rival. Non-soccer kids can still follow along (it's not heavy on technical jargon), but athletes will appreciate that it gets the details right.

The friendship drama is age-appropriate but real. There's tension, jealousy, misunderstandings, and hurt feelings—but it's handled at a middle-grade level. No one's getting publicly humiliated on social media or dealing with romantic betrayal. It's the kind of conflict that actually happens in 5th and 6th grade: someone feels left out, cliques form and shift, people say things they regret.

Leadership without being preachy. Devin isn't a natural-born leader who swoops in and fixes everything. She's talented but also makes assumptions, pushes too hard, and has to learn that leadership is about listening and adapting, not just being the best player. It's a genuinely good model for kids learning about teamwork.

The books are quick reads—perfect for reluctant readers or kids transitioning from chapter books to middle-grade novels. Each book covers about a season's worth of soccer and social drama. The writing is straightforward without being dumbed down, and the plots move quickly.

The series includes:

The show condenses and remixes elements from the books into 10 episodes. It's well-cast (Sixx Orange as Devin is particularly good), and the production doesn't feel cheap or rushed. The soccer scenes are actually watchable—they clearly had kids who could play, and they didn't rely entirely on editing tricks.

One nice touch: the show maintains the books' focus on diverse representation without making it A Very Special Episode about diversity. The team just is diverse, and that's normal.

Here's where the community data gets interesting. About 30% of families in our Screenwise community give their kids free access to Amazon Prime Video, 32% use supervised access, and 38% don't allow it at all.

The Kicks is actually a great test case for supervised access—it's wholesome enough that you don't need to pre-screen every episode, but watching together gives you natural conversation starters about friend dynamics, handling disappointment, and working through conflict.

Each episode is about 25 minutes, making it easy to watch one as a contained activity rather than getting sucked into a binge. Unlike some kids' shows that are designed to keep kids clicking "next episode," The Kicks has natural stopping points.

Books: Ages 8-12 is the sweet spot. Younger kids (7-8) who are strong readers can handle it, but some of the social dynamics might go over their heads. Older kids (12+) might find it a bit young unless they're really into soccer or looking for a palate cleanser between heavier reads.

Show: Ages 8-14 works well. The show skews slightly older in presentation than the books, but it's still firmly middle-grade content.

Content concerns are minimal:

The biggest "issue" is that it might make your kid want to join a soccer team, which is honestly a pretty good problem to have.

This is genuinely wholesome without being saccharine. It's not preachy or overly sanitized—kids face real problems and sometimes handle them badly. But the overall message is positive: work hard, support your teammates, communicate when things go wrong, and don't give up.

It's a good conversation starter about leadership. Devin's journey from talented individual player to team leader is actually a pretty sophisticated look at what leadership means. She has to learn that being the best doesn't automatically make you the leader, and that real leadership sometimes means stepping back and elevating others.

The parent characters are present but not intrusive. Devin's parents are supportive without being helicopter parents. They give advice when asked, set reasonable boundaries, and model healthy communication. It's refreshing compared to kids' content where parents are either absent or bumbling idiots.

It handles transition well. If your kid is dealing with a move, changing schools, or joining a new team/activity, this series is basically a roadmap for how to handle it. Not in a self-help way, but by showing a character going through it and making it work.

The Kicks series—both books and show—is exactly what it promises to be: a well-executed middle-grade story about soccer, friendship, and finding your place. It's not going to blow your mind, but it doesn't need to. It's competent, wholesome, and genuinely engaging for its target audience.

The books are great for:

The show is great for:

If you're looking for alternatives or want to explore similar content, check out books about teamwork and leadership or wholesome shows for tweens.

If your kid likes this, try:

Want to dig deeper? Ask our chatbot about sports-themed books for middle schoolers or explore shows about teamwork and leadership.

The reality is that finding genuinely good middle-grade content—whether books or shows—that's engaging without being brain rot is harder than it should be. The Kicks clears that bar easily. It's not going to win literary awards or revolutionize children's television, but it's well-made, age-appropriate, and actually enjoyable. Sometimes that's exactly what you need.