Episode 264: 10 minutes with Carla Fitzgerald

September 9, 2026

In episode 264 of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast:

10 minutes with Carla Fitzgerald

Allison chats to author Carla Fitzgerald about her funny new middle-grade novel ‘How To Make The World Cup and Survive Grade Five’, why she’s a ‘reformed lawyer’ and why grade five is a sweet spot for storytellers

Books we mention

Click on the titles to find out more or buy. See contact page for affiliate disclosure.

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Bookmail

‘Terrible Tails: The Last Sipper’ by Adin Milo

‘Once Upon a Harbour’ by Fiona Farell and David Elliot

‘The Grey Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Odds’ by Anna Battese, illustrated by Erin Reeves

‘The Not So Quiet Life of Marcel Marceau’ by Jenn Bailey and Sherry Bushue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

10 minutes with Carla Fitzgerald

About Carla Fitzgerald

Carla Fitzgerald author Carla Fitzgerald is a writer, a recovered lawyer and a mum of three from Sydney. She studied arts and law at university, and worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Only after that did she rediscover the great fun of making stuff up.

Carla is a Books in Homes role model, a tutor at the Australian Writers Centre, and a guest speaker at schools around the country. Her favourite things to do are write, walk, read, eat and hang out with her family. Not necessarily in that order.

She is the author of books for children including How to Make the World Cup and Survive Grade Five, How to Break a World Record and Survive Grade Five and How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five.

Find out more.

About ‘How To Make The World Cup And Survive Grade Five’

Could you coach the Australian women’s soccer team to victory? In her funniest book yet, Carla Fitzgerald serves up a winning middle-grade story about sport, friendship drama and finding the guts to have a go.

Eleven-year-old Ronni is basically a professional athlete … at watching sport. If it’s on a screen, she’s glued to it – just like her parents.

But when Ronni and her best friend, Kai, are recruited to secretly coach the Australian women’s soccer team through the World Cup qualifiers, she discovers life looks very different on the other side of the screen.

Suddenly, she’s running training sessions on the sly and sidestepping suspicious players. The team is floundering, social‑media critics (including her own dad!) are piling on – and worst of all, Kai thinks her tactics are way off. Turns out coaching is tougher than it looks!

With their World Cup dreams slipping away and her friendship on the line, Ronni must choose: stay on the bench or get in the game?

Find out more.