Yasmin Bandara Levels Up!

Brought to you by Penguin.

From comedy superstar Romesh Ranganathan comes a second unique and hilarious middle-grade story, perfect for readers of David Baddiel, Little Badman and Adam B's Adam Wins the Internet!

Like many thirteen-year-olds, Yasmin Bandara doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up.

Her parents want her to be a doctor, and expect her to focus on school – the only computer game they allow her to play is purely educational (yawn!).

Yasmin gets so good at it that the game’s company invite her to play at a national competition. Her friends, teachers, and family are mega excited about the opportunity, but Yasmin’s not!

So when her best friend Zane introduces her to a cool football game called FifPro, Yassmin’s ready for some fun! She can’t get enough of it, secretly playing matches whenever she can, hiding Zane’s spare console from her parents, and spending her lunch hours swapping stats with her friends about an anonymous FifPro superstar called The Goat.

Before long, Yasmin’s gaming talent means she’s smashing every match and is desperate to become as great, if not greater than her hero. But when she receives an exciting invite to the national FifPro tournament she faces a dilemma - it’s on the SAME day as the other competition!

Playing computer games might have taught Yasmin how to be a brilliant problem-solver, but this puzzle might be a level too far. Can she make everyone proud, beat The Goat, and convince her parents that she wants to be a professional gamer?

© Romesh Ranganathan 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025