Get in the Game: Books About Sports

 

Fiction:

 

Tangerine by Edward Bloor (YA FIC Blo)
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.

 

Born in Sin by Evelyn Coleman (YA FIC Col)
Despite serious obstacles and setbacks, fourteen-year-old Keisha pursues her dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer and medical doctor.

 

Whip It by Shauna Cross (YA FIC Cro)
When sixteen-year-old rebel Bliss Cavendar, who is miserable living in a small Texas town with her beauty pageant obsessed mother, secretly joins a roller derby team under the name "Babe Ruthless," her life gets better, although infinitely more confusing.

 

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (YA FIC Cru)
TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.

 

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker (YA FIC Deu)
Football is the only thing that has ever really mattered to Mick, who works hard for a spot on the varsity team his freshman year, then tries to hold onto his edge by using steroids, despite the consequences to his health and social life.

 

Sports Stories edited by Alan Durant (YA FIC Spo)
From baseball and basketball to show-jumping and soccer, an action-packed collection of stories about sports includes contributions by Matt Christopher and Walter Dean Myers.

 

Offsides: a novel by Erik E. Esckilsen (YA FIC Esc)
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.

 

Getting in the Game by Dawn Fitzgerald (YA FIC Fit)
When everyone tries to get thirteen-year-old Joanna off the boys ice hockey team, including Ben, her best friend since kindergarten, Jo resolves to deal with the problems caused by her participation.

 

Baseball Great by Tim Green (YA FIC Gre)
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.

 

Last Chance for First by Tom Hazuka (YA FIC Haz)
High schooler Robby has to handle a torturous soccer coach and a co-captain with a drinking problem while vying for the attentions of the new girl in school.

 

Warrior Angel by Robert Lipsyte (YA FIC Lip)
Native American boxer of the Moscondaga Nation, Sonny Bear must fight to retain his heavyweight championship title.

 

The Big Field by Mike Lupica (YA FIC Lup)
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.

 

Slot Machine by Chris Lynch (YA FIC Lyn)
When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul's Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where they belong.

 

Boost by Kathy Mackel (YA FIC Mac)
Thirteen-year-old Savvy's dreams of starting for her elite basketball team are in danger when she is accused of taking steroids.

 

Pinned by Alfred Martino (YA FIC Mar)
Dealing with family problems, girls, and their own competitive natures, high school seniors Ivan Korske and Bobby Zane face each other in the final match of the New Jersey State Wrestling Championship.

 

Shooting Star by Frederick McKissack (YA FIC McK)
Jomo Rogers, a naturally talented athlete, starts taking performance enhancing drugs in order to be an even better high school football player, but finds his life spinning out of control as his game improves.

 

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (YA FIC Mur)
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.

 

Game by Walter Dean Myers (YA FIC Mye)
If Harlem high school senior Drew is going to realize his dream of playing college and professional basketball, he will have to improve at being coached and being a team player, especially after a new--white--student threatens to take the scouts' attention away from him.

 

Why I Fight by J. Adams Oaks (YA FIC Oak)
After his house burns down, twelve-year-old Wyatt Reaves takes off with his uncle, and the two of them drive from town to town for six years, earning money mostly by fighting, until Wyatt finally confronts his parents one last time.

 

Keeper by Mal Peet (YA FIC Pee)
In an interview with a young journalist, World Cup hero, El Gato, describes his youth in the Brazilian rain forest and the events, experiences, and people that helped make him a great goalkeeper and renowned soccer star.

 

Ball Don’t Lie by Matt de la Pena (YA FIC Pen)
Seventeen-year-old Sticky lives to play basketball at school and at Lincoln Rec Center in Los Angeles and is headed for the pros, but he is unaware of the many dangers--including his own past--that threaten his dream.

 

Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr (YA FIC Rev)
Two high-school girls growing up in the inner city, one Japanese American, the other African American, hunger for basketball stardom and life beyond South Central Los Angeles.

 

Take Off by Todd Strasser (YA FIC Stra)
After arriving in Sun Haven, fifteen-year-old Kai can't wait to get on a board and surf again, but the locals patrolling the best spot on the beach will only let him into the lineup if he consents to compete against one of them.

 

Going for the Record by Julie A. Swanson (YA FIC Swa)
Seventeen-year-old Leah's chance to make the national soccer team does not seem so important when she learns that her father has cancer and may only have months to live.

 

Non-Fiction:

 

In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais (796.3 Bla)
They were a talented basketball team with a near-perfect record but a reputation for choking in the crunch of the state playoffs. Finally, after five straight years of disappointments, the Amherst Lady Hurricanes found they just might have what it took to go all the way.

 

Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton (YA BIO HAMILTON autobio)
Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer lost her arm in a shark attack off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. Not even the loss of her arm keeps her from returning to surfing, the sport she loves.

 

Tony Hawk: Professional Skateboarder by Tony Hawk (YA BIO HAWK autobio)
An autobiography in which professional skateboarder Tony Hawk discusses his early interest in boarding and the years he spent pursing the sport until it once again became popular, and shares stories about his personal life.

 

The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams by Derek Jeter
(YA BIO JETER autobio)
The shortstop for the New York Yankees charts his personal road to success in a sports memoir that emphasizes the key roles of a strong work ethic, teamwork, enthusiasm, perseverance, and respect for authority in achieving one's dreams.

 

Michele Kwan: Heart of a Champion by Michele Kwan (YA BIO KWAN autobio)
The 1996 World Figure Skating Champion discusses the rigors of competition, the importance of a strong support group, her love of ice skating, and her Olympic dream.

 

Girls Got Game: Sports Stories and Poems edited by Sue Macy (810.8 Gir)
A collection of short stories and poems written by and about young women in sports.

 

Winning Ways: A Photohistory of American Women in Sports by Sue Macy (796.0194 Mac)
A look at 150 years of women in sports: what they wore, how they behaved, and how they were regarded, served up via engaging anecdotes and winning photos.

 

No Limits: The Will to Succeed by Michael Phelps (YA BIO PHELPS autobio)
Michael Phelps reveals the secrets to his remarkable success, from his training regimen to his mental preparation and, finally, to his performance in the pool.

 

To check the status of a book or to place your name on the waiting list, please use the Library Catalog (www.skpl.org) or ask at the Reference Desk.

 

List created by for the South Kingstown Public Library by Brandi Kenyon.

Last updated 10/09.