So You Want To Be A Professional Athlete is another entry in the “So You Want To Be A…” series by Linda Soules, the illustrated career-exploration line for young readers that has grown to nearly 200 titles, covering everything from astronauts to zookeepers. I’m reviewing it alongside another entry in the series, So You Want To Be A Scientist, as a dual look at how the same format handles two very different careers. Given how closely the two books follow the same template and how short each one runs, a family could easily work through several titles in the series back to back.
In terms of content, the book moves through the full shape of what a realistic athletic career would be like, rather than just the highlight reel. It covers what a professional athlete’s job actually looks like day to day, including training, recovery, nutrition, travel, before getting into where athletes work, from stadiums and locker rooms to training facilities most fans never see. From there it walks through the tools of the trade, notably an hour-by-hour “Day in the Life” schedule, profiles of real athletes past and present, the best and hardest parts of the job, and a set of practical steps a kid can take right now if the profession appeals to them. Overall, it’s a pretty comprehensive overview for 38 pages.
It’s obviously quite hard to get kids to read these days. Luckily, the book knows how to have fun with its subject while being educational at the same time, which will make it an enjoyable read for kids. Its “Fun Facts” pages read almost like the back of a trading card: a hitter has to swing at a major-league fastball before their brain has even finished registering it, a basketball player who stopped sweating mid-game could overheat within minutes, and Wayne Gretzky racked up more assists alone than any other player in NHL history has total points.
It’s the kind of trivia a kid ends up repeating at dinner days later. That same spirit carries into the closing pages, where a set of italicized questions and a “What You Can Do To Prepare Right Now” checklist push the reader toward moving daily, trying different sports, and learning to lose well, rather than just cheering them on from a distance.
A kid lacing up shoes on a front porch, about to go outside and see what their body can do — that kid is already an athlete.
That encouragement doesn’t come at the cost of honesty, though. The book is upfront about the rougher parts of the job without tipping into discouragement. For instance, the book admits the fact that much of being an athlete is waiting and preparing to play, and that plenty of athletes describe the years right after retirement as some of the most disorienting of their lives. The profile section is where this candor lands hardest, giving full-page treatment to Derek Redmond’s torn hamstring at the 1992 Olympics and his father’s arm around his shoulders at the finish line, and Simone Biles walking away from the Tokyo team final only to come back for gold in Paris.
Visually, the book mostly pulls its weight too. The illustrations lean bright and kinetic rather than static, capturing athletes mid-motion, which suits a book about bodies in action. I also appreciate the author is transparent about the illustrations being AI-assisted, rather than trying to conceal it. For kids who still struggle to read books without pictures, they are a welcome addition.
In terms of constructive feedback, much like with the scientist book the font is on the small side and the typography stays fairly plain throughout, which will likely ask more of less confident readers than they like. A little more room spent distinguishing between sports would have been appreciated too. In any case, if a kid finishes this one and decides athletics isn’t for them after all, there’s very little cost to that, since nearly 200 other careers are sitting one book away in the same series. So, if you read your child one of the books in the series a day, you will have enough bedtime reading material for quite some time.
All in all, So You Want To Be A Professional Athlete will likely succeed at inspiring kids that embarking on a career path as an athlete is a possible life worth choosing, without ever pretending the sacrifice isn’t real. It respects the competition without romanticizing it, and respects the discipline without making it sound miserable. This is a book I easily could picture a kid finding in a school library and, years later, tracing the start of their own road to athletic success back to it.
Final verdict: For fans of Salt in His Shoes and Winners Never Quit!, So You Want To Be A Professional Athlete is a book that would work perfectly for an athlete looking to explain their profession to their own kids, or for a sporty young person already weighing what a life in sports might actually be like.
You can get your copy of So You Want To Be A Professional Athlete here!
