Marcus Rashford announces his new children’s book, You Can Do It

Virgin Radio

2 Feb 2022, 12:27

The England and Manchester United footballer’s follow-up to You are a Champion has once again been co-written with Carl Anka and will “champion and celebrate difference”. 

You Can Do It: How To Find Your Team and Make a Difference will land in bookshops in July of this year and is available for pre-order now. The book will encourage readers to use their voice to champion causes they care about, and will contain advice from the England player on the importance of teamwork.

Announcing the new book in a tweet, Marcus Rashford said: “Excited to finally announce the follow up to ‘You are a Champion’ written alongside @Ankaman616." 

He added: “‘You Can Do it’ teaches us to champion and celebrate difference and helps us understand how best to use our voices to support one another.”

The Manchester United forward’s previous book with writer and journalist Carl Anka, You Are a Champion, came out last year and was the bestselling children’s non-fiction title of 2021, shifting more than 220,000 copies in the UK. It won WH Smith’s Book of the Year and was also on the shortlist for Waterstones Book of the Year. 

Meanwhile, Rashford picked up the FutureBook Person of the Year and the Books Are My Bag Breakthrough Author of the Year award.

When coming up with the new book, Rashford said it was important to spend time with children who had read You Are a Champion, in order to understand “what they took away from the book and what tools we could still equip them with, so they are best prepared for adult life.” 

He explained: “The insight sessions were brilliant and I’m proud of the outcome, focusing on how we can best champion one another, and view difference as a positive rather than a means to discriminate.”

Revealing that he “leapt at the chance” to create another book with the England player, co-writer Carl Anka added: “We want to build on some of the ideas and principles developed in the first book and hopefully create something to help young people foster their communities and go out and shape the world.”