Book Lists: Sports Fiction

A graphic novel adventure about a girl who discovers roller derby right as she and her best friend are growing apart.

Hank, Nathan, Jeremy, and Anabel deal with the realities of middle school basketball, including family pressure, a series of coaches with very different personalities and agendas, and what it means to be a team--and a friend.

Twelve-year-old Jake, who was one of his mediocre baseball team's best players the previous season, unexpectedly finds himself overshadowed when a new player shows up and the team starts winning.

Daren's tendency to blame everyone but himself when anything goes wrong causes problems with his best friend, with a young neighbor who idolizes him, and with one of his basketball teammates.

After the death of his abusive father, eleven-year-old Ricky tries to help his younger brother deal with his residual fears and discovers that running helps him deal with his own anger and the taunts of a bullying classmate.

After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan Carol are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game.

Follows the fortunes of a German immigrant family through nine generations, beginning in 1845, as they experience American life and play baseball.

With his ability to travel through time using baseball cards and photographs, thirteen-year-old Joe and his mother go back to 1863 to ask Abner Doubleday whether he invented baseball, but instead find themselves in the middle of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Uncoordinated Kansas seventh-grader Kirby Nickel braves his coach's ire and becomes captain of the basketball team in order to help him prove that NBA star Brett McGrew is the father he has never known.

Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof.

Thirteen-year-old Danny must prove himself all over again for a disapproving coach and against new rivals at a summer basketball camp.

After breaking his arm during the first day of try-outs last season, Robby is determined to make the football team this year, but to do so he must face his own fears and the bully who tackled him the year before.

Sam's move to Ottawa means he has to leave his friends and hockey team behind, and even though he is able to play on a new team, he finds himself missing his old support system of friends--especially when his mother breaks her leg and needs him and his brothers to run the household.

A newbie to the track team, Patina "Patty" Jones must learn to rely on her family and teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons.

In 1972, after his older brother is killed in a car crash, Peter Lee's mother is paralyzed by grief and his traditional Chinese father seems emotionally frozen--but Peter hopes that if he joins a Little League team in Pittsburgh he can reawaken the passion for baseball that all the members of his family used to share and bring them back to life.

Eleven-year-old Riley Liston tries to fit in at Camp Olympia, a summer sports camp where he is one of the youngest boys.

Agents and lawyers come knocking after Troy leads his football team, the Atlanta Falcons, to the Georgia State Championship, but his life gets complicated when one of the lawyers turns out to be the father he never knew.

A collection of short stories featuring characters from earlier books by Chris Crutcher.

A collection of eleven short stories focusing on the everyday adventures of Hispanic young people growing up in Fresno, California.

When thirteen-year-old, bowling-obsessed Lamar Washington finds out that his idol is coming to town, he finds himself involved in some unsavory activities as he tries to change his image to impress people.

When ten-year-old River, who is crazy about basketball, is not chosen to play in the tournament set up in the town of Azalea, Oregon, she decides to organize a team of her own and accepts the help of her older brother.

When seventh-grade basketball star Brett discovers something he isn't good at, he begins to loose confidence and makes a series of mistakes.

Feeling guilty after accidentally breaking his friend's leg, Rocky Fletcher takes on extra duties at school, from selling chocolate bars and managing his injured friend's student council campaign to playing both offense and defense on the football team.

When Coach Wilson and Officer Stowell encourage him to join the high school football team, Pete no longer believes that "nobody does anything for nothing."

Teen sportswriters Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson are assigned to cover the football game between long ime rivalries Army and Navy, and, after noticing the actions of secret service agents, they begin to suspect that the president, who is going to attend the event, is in danger.

All twelve-year-old Josh wants to do is play baseball but when his father, a minor league pitcher, signs him up for a youth championship team, Josh finds himself embroiled in a situation with potentially illegal consequences.

With their ability to travel through time using vintage baseball cards, Joe and his father have the opportunity to find out whether Babe Ruth really did call his shot when he hit that homerun in the third game of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.

In the summer before high school, Tessa's decision to play football, instead of running cross-country, affects her blossoming romance with football prospect Caleb, her relationship with best friends Marina and Lexie, who are counting on Tessa to try out for cross-country, and her home life with her politically ambitious mother.

Sixth grade is supposed to be the year that Jack Callahan would lead his team to the Little League World Series, but after the death of his brother, he loses interest in baseball and only Cassie, the star of the girls' softball team, seems to understand.

Fifteen-year-old Louise Brown is devastated when she doesn't make the cut for an elite swimming camp that leads to Olympic stardom--but her best friend does. Left on her own and humiliated, she takes a last-resort offer to coach three popular guys from her school in synchronized swimming for "Britain's Hidden Talent" reality show, with humorous, unexpected results.

High school junior D. J. Schwenk staggers under the weight of caring for her badly injured brother, her responsibilities on the dairy farm, a changing relationship with her friend Brian, and her own athletic aspirations.

Performing community service for pulling a stupid prank against a rival high school, soccer star Tom tutors a Somali refugee with soccer dreams of his own.

Matt Hill struggles to earn a spot on the South Side football team while dealing with his estranged father's sudden return.

Four players at the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament struggle with the pressures of tournament play and the expectations of society at large.

After flunking sixth-grade English, basketball prodigy Stanford Wong must struggle to pass his summer-school class, keep his failure a secret from his friends, and satisy his academically demanding father.

To help his dog through cancer treatment, Conor gives up hockey and finds himself considering who he is without the sport that has defined him, and connecting more with his family and best friend.

A collection of sports stories featuring everything from fighting to friendship, set everywhere from the tennis court to the hockey rink.

A collection of sixteen short stories about teenage athletes written by well-known authors in the field, including award-winning novelists Robert Lipsyte and Chris Crutcher.

After losing his hand in an accident in his father's butcher shop in 1946, sixth-grader Norman uses hard work and humor to learn to live with his disability and to succeed at baseball, art, and other activities.

Moving to Hillcrest, Ohio, when his adoptive father accepts a temporary job, twelve-year-old Jeremiah, a heart transplant recipient, has sixty days to find a baseball team to coach.

A black boy and an emotionally troubled white boy in North Carolina form a precarious friendship.

When thirteen-year-old Joelle, a star baseball player, moves to a new town where the only option for girls is softball, she starts an all-girl baseball league against the wishes of her school coaches and others in the town.

Eleven-year-old Felix becomes a bat boy for a minor league baseball team, hoping to someday be like his father, a famous Cuban outfielder.

Two teenagers learn that every player on a professional football team--which is supposed to play in the Super Bowl--has failed their drug test and the owner has covered up the results, and now they must find a way to prove it.

While trying to focus on a winning soccer season, thirteen-year-old Tess becomes involved in local politics when she learns that all sports programs at her school will be stopped unless a tax levy is passed.

Troy, a sixth-grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players.

Assisted by his neighbor, Birdie, blind thirteen-year-old Ed "Bogie" Bogard will win one million dollars if he can sink a ten-foot putt in Hawaii's fifth annual Angus Killick Memorial Tournament.

Lonely after a midsummer move to a new town, high-school quarter-back Marcus Jordan becomes friends with a retired professional linebacker whose erratic behavior confuses him, until Jordan discovers that the player is actually suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Jake Cullen, fourteen, lives in the shadows of his father and older brother until he becomes the starting quarterback for the high school football team and finally has his chance to shine.

Since Derek is now the tallest player on his basketball team, the coach decides to have him play center but Jason, the former center, has little confidence in Derek and will not pass him the ball.

Drew Lawson, counting on basketball to get him into college and out of Harlem, struggles to keep his cool when the coach brings in two white players and puts them in positions that clearly threaten Drew's game.

Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential.

Sixteen-year-old tennis star Maya's dreams come true when she earns a scholarship to the Academy, a sports training facility/boarding school for teenaged athletes, but can she survive the constant drama of her talented classmates?

Eleven episodes in the life of a young man, from sneaking into his tenth football game in a row with his best friend in sixth grade to running his last high school race, the Pennsylvania state championships.

When twelve-year-old Arcady is sent to a children's home after his parents are declared enemies of the state in Soviet Russia, soccer becomes a way to secure extra rations, respect, and protection but it may also be his way out if he can believe in and love another person--and himself.

Fifteen popular sports stories of soccer, baseball, hockey, swimming, and more.

Presents a collection of nine short stories that relate to the world of sports.

In the fall of 2004, twelve-year-old Oscar Egg is sent to live with his father in a strange netherworld under Boston's Fenway Park, where he joins the fairies, pooka, banshee, and other beings that are trapped there, waiting for someone to break the eighty-six-year-old curse that has prevented the Boston Red Sox from winning a World Series.

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Ray Hockaday, a center in the Western Hockey League who holds a secret, is assigned to help his new teammate, a Russian named Vlad, get accustomed to Canada and soon finds that his companion holds a very dangerous secret of his own.

Matt Harper is sent to live with his uncle while his mother is assigned an overseas government job, but finds he must compete with his new school's most popular boy and best snowboarder while trying to dispel damaging rumors about himself and his mom.

Tom Gray, a Mohawk Indian and star soccer player, moves to a new high school and refuses to play for the Warriors with their insulting mascot.

Eighth-grade sports reporters Susan Carol and Stevie reunite at the U.S. Open tennis championships where they investigate the mysterious disappearance of a top Russian player.

Determined to play in the Little League World Series, twelve-year-old Josh struggles to concentrate on his game and be the team's leader while also trying to cope with his parents' impending divorce.

Joe Stoshack, a boy who has the ability to travel through time, learns a lesson about dignified behavior in the face of ethnic and racial strife when he goes back to 1947 to meet African-American baseball legend Jackie Robinson.

Fifth-grader Ty Cutter, named after baseball great Ty Cobb, has lots of enthusiasm for the game but very little talent, which makes life difficult for him and his father who is coach of Ty's team.

After her mother's death, twelve-year-old Molly learns that her father is a basketball star for the Boston Celtics.

After he is cut from his travel basketball team--the very same team that his father once led to national prominence--twelve-year-old Danny Walker forms his own team of cast-offs that might have a shot at victory.

After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school's rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself, not anticipating the reactions of those around her.

When fifteen-year-old best friends Henry and Eve leave New Jersey, one for tennis camp in Florida and one for ballet camp in New York, each faces challenges that put her long-cherished dreams of the future to the test.

In 1881, the scrappy, rough-and-tumble baseball team in a California mining town enlists the help of a quick-witted twelve-year-old orphan and the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid to win a big game against the National League Champion Chicago White Stockings.

When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again.

Jill Cafferty has just made history as the first women ever drafted by a major league baseball team, just days after her high school graduation. With what feels like everyone around her just waiting for her to make a mistake, Jill fears she won't live up to the hype.

Sunny always has a goofy smile and is the happiest person on the Defenders team. But Sunny's mom died giving birth to him and it seems like his dad blames him since he ignores Sunny and makes him call him "Darryl" and never "Dad." The only thing Sunny can do right in his dad's eyes is to win first place ribbons in running the mile, just like his mother. Sunny hates running and loves to dance and when he discovers a track event that allows him to incorporate elements of dance that he loves, he learns to let go of everything that's eating him up inside.

A series of short stories by such authors as Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Joseph Bruchac, interspersed with poems and photographs, provides different perspectives on a game of streetball played one steamy July day at the West 4th Street court in New York City known as The Cage.