Sports Books by Sport
Baseball
Softball
Basketball
Football
Hockey
Softball
Basketball
Football
Hockey
Baseball
Cochrane, Mick. The Girl Who Threw Butterflies.
Eighth-grader Molly's ability to throw a knuckleball earns her a spot on the baseball team, which not only helps her feel connected to her recently deceased father, who loved baseball, but helps in other aspects of her life as well.
Corbett, Sue. Free Baseball.
Angry with his mother for having too little time for him, eleven-year-old Felix takes advantage of an opportunity to become bat boy for a minor league baseball team, hoping to someday be like his father, a famous Cuban outfielder.
Day, Karen. No Cream Puffs.
In 1980, when twelve-year-old Madison, who loves to play baseball, decides to play in her town's baseball league, she never envisions the uproar it causes when she becomes the first girl to join.
Fehler, Gene. Beanball.
Relates, from diverse points of view, events surrounding the critical injury of popular and talented high school athlete, Luke "Wizard" Wallace, when he is hit in the face by a fastball.
Gratz, Alan. Samurai Shortstop.
While obtaining a Western education at a prestigious Japanese boarding school in 1890, sixteen-year-old Toyo also receives traditional samurai training which has profound effects on both his baseball game and his relationship with his father.
Jenkins, A.M. Out of Order.
Sophomore Colt Trammel loves baseball and his girlfriend Grace, but he hates the rest of high school and maintains a tough facade to hide his feelings of inferiority.
Koertge, Ronald. Shakespeare Bats Cleanup.
When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss.
Korman, Gordon. Swindle.
After collector S. Wendell Palamino cons him out of a valuable baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin Bing puts together a band of misfits to steal the card back, planning to use the money to finance his father's failing invention, the SmartPick fruit picker.
Lupica, Mike. The Big Field.
When fourteen-year-old baseball player Hutch feels threatened by the arrival of a new teammate named Darryl, he tries to work through his insecurities about both Darryl and his remote and silent father, who was once a great ballplayer too.
Park, Linda Sue. Keeping Score.
In 1951 Brooklyn, a die-hard Giants fan teaches nine-year-old Maggie, who is a "Bums" (Dodgers) fan, how to use a technique to keep score of a baseball game which creates a special friendship between them.
Wallace, Rich. Southpaw.
After moving to New Jersey following his parents' divorce, Jimmy Fleming tries out for the seventh-grade baseball team while also trying to cope with his new life and dealing with his overly-competitive father.
Weaver, Will. Hard Ball.
A fourteen-year-old Minnesota farm boy has to figure out how to get along with the arch-rival in his love life and on the baseball diamond, and both boys must learn how to deal with the unfair expectations of their fathers.
Softball
Mackel, Kathryn. MadCat.
Fast-pitch softball catcher MadCat Campione's love for the sport--and her relationship with her best friends--is strained when her team competes on a national level.
Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Bat 6.
In small town, post-World War II Oregon, twenty-one 6th grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface.
Basketball
Alphin, Elaine Marie. The Perfect Shot.
Brian uses basketball to block out memories of his girlfriend and her family who were gunned down a year ago, but the upcoming murder trial and a high school history assignment force him to face the past and decide how far he should go to see justice served.
Coy, John. Box Out.
High school sophomore Liam jeopardizes his new position on the varsity basketball team when he decides to take a stand against his coach who is leading prayers before games and enforcing teamwide participation.
Feinstein, John. Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery.
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.
Harkrader, Lisa. Airball: My Life in Briefs.
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.
Lupica, Mike. Summer Ball.
Thirteen-year-old Danny must prove himself all over again for a disapproving coach and against new rivals at a summer basketball camp.
Mackel, Kathryn. Boost.
Thirteen-year-old Savvy's dreams of starting for her elite basketball team are in danger when she is accused of taking steroids.
Myers, Walter Dean. Game.
If Harlem high school senior Drew Lawson is going to realize his dream of playing 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.
Wallace, Rich. Playing without the Ball: A Novel in Four Quarters.
Feeling abandoned by his parents, who have gone their separate ways and left him behind in a small Pennsylvania town, seventeen-year-old Jay finds hope for the future in a church-sponsored basketball team and a female friend.
Waltman, Kevin. Learning the Game.
When Nate and his high-school basketball teammates steal from a fraternity house in their small Indiana town, he contends with his guilt, his loyalty to his friends, and his desire to help his older brother who comes under suspicion for the crime.
Football
Carter, Alden R. Love, Football, and Other Contact Sports.
Stories of students from one end of the social spectrum to the other. Jock to loner, academic snob to outcast, Carter explores and shatters the stereotypes behind the relationships, rumors, sports, bullies, and other mental anguish that come with high school.
Deuker, Carl. Gym Candy.
Groomed by his father to be a star player, football is the only thing that has ever really mattered to Mick Johnson, 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.
Draper, Sharon. November Blues.
A teenaged boy's death in a hazing accident has lasting effects on his pregnant girlfriend and his guilt-ridden cousin, who gives up a promising music career to play football during his senior year in high school.
Feinstein, John. Cover-Up.
Fledgling fourteen-year-old sports reporters Susan Carol and Stevie investigate suspicious activities at the Super Bowl after Stevie gets fired from his co-anchor job on a ground-breaking teen sports show.
Green, Tim. Football Hero.
When Ty's brother Thane is recruited out of college to play for the New York Jets, their Uncle Gus uses Ty to get insider information for his gambling ring, landing Ty and Thane in trouble with the mafia.
Jenkins, A. M. Damage.
Seventeen-year-old football hero Austin, trying to understand the inexplicable depression that has drained his interest in life, thinks that he has found relief in a girl who seems very special.
Korman, Gordon. Pop.
Lonely after a midsummer move to a new town, high-school quarterback Marcus Jordan becomes friends with a retired professional linebacker whose erratic behavior confuses him, until Marcus discovers that the player is actually suffering from a neurological disease.
Murdock, Catherine. Dairy Queen.
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.
Tennis
Feinstein, John. Vanishing Act.
Eighth-grade sports reporters Stevie and Susan Carol reunite at the U.S. Open tennis championships where they investigate the mysterious disappearance of a top Russian player.
Hockey
FitzGerald, Dawn. Getting in the Game.
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.
McMahen, Chris. Klutzhood.
Arlo thinks his mother is crazy for taking a job in a small town, and to make matters worse, the students at his new school are hockey crazy. Arlo has never laced up a pair of skates in his life, and he's not about to start. Will Arlo survive East Bend?
Soccer
Esckilsen, Erik. Offsides.
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.
FitzGerald, Dawn. Soccer Chick Rules.
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.