Olympic Reading

Have you been enjoying the London Olympics this week? Check out some of these great summer sports books when you're not watching the action and drama on TV.

Perfected by Girls by Alfred C. Martino
Life isn't easy for Melinda Radford. Her parents have forbid her from seeing a new out-of-town boyfriend, her grandmother insists she give up a fun job at the mall for a dreary office internship, and she's the lone girl on the Ashton High wrestling team, dealing with opponents who refuse to compete against her, a few who want to crush her, and an infuriating older brother who's the varsity team captain and always flirting with her best friend. Just when it seems things can't get any more complicated, an off-handed comment to a newspaper reporter puts Mel at odds with her teammates, her brother and, worst of all, her coach. But through a strange twist of tragedy and fate, Mel is given an unexpected opportunity to accomplish something no girl in her school's history has ever done, and to redeem herself in the eyes of many.

Boy 21 by Matthew Quick
Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He lives in broken-down Bellmont, a town ruled by the Irish mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged rivalries. At home, his dad works nights and Finley is left to take care of his disabled grandfather alone. He's always dreamed of getting out someday, but until he can, putting on that number 21 jersey makes everything seem okay. Russ has just moved to Finley's neighborhood and the life of this teen basketball phenom has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, Russ won't pick up a basketball but answers only to the name Boy21--taken from his former jersey number. As their final year of high school brings these two boys together, a unique friendship may turn out to be the answer they both need.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope with crutches and a prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. Rosa is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed and she sees right into the heart of Jessica. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself-she wants to take Rosa with her.

Breathless by Jessica Warman
When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn't take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She's smart, she's cute, and she's an Olympic-bound swimmer who has a first class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice. But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don't know is that Katie is swimming away from her past, and from her schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won't let her go. And when he does the unthinkable, it's all Katie can do to keep her head above water.

Now Is the Time for Running by Michael Williams
Just down the road from their families, Deo and his friends play soccer in the dusty fields of Zimbabwe, cheered on by Deo's older brother, Innocent. It is a day like any other until the soldiers arrive and Deo and Innocent are forced to run for their lives, fleeing the wreckage of their village for the distant promise of safe haven with nothing more than a leather soccer ball filled with money. Along the way, they face the prejudice and poverty that await refugees everywhere and must rely on the kindness of people they meet to make it through. But when tragedy strikes, Deo's love of soccer is all he has left. Can he actually use that gift to compete in the Street Soccer World Cup and resurrect his life?


Kimberly

World Series!

The World Series starts tonight (Let's go Cardinals!!). When you're not watching the game, enjoy some of these great baseball books:

Baseball Great by Tim Green

Josh's dad signs him up with Coach Rocky Valentine's youth baseball championship team, the Titans. He says Josh has what it takes to be a baseball great and the Titans will help him get there. Now Josh is gulping down Rocky's "Super Stax" milkshakes to build muscle and trying to fit in with his new teammates - older, tougher kids who can suddenly become violent. All Josh really wants to do is play ball, but as he gets in deeper with the Titans, there are questions he's just got to ask. As Josh and his new friend Jaden investigate their suspicions, they find themselves in a dangerous struggle with a desperate man who doesn't want them to expose the nasty secrets they uncover.

Far From Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters 

Mary Elizabeth (or Mike) Szabo is the star of her school's softball team but because of problems stemming from her father's suicide, her depressed mother and her slacker brother, she has convinced herself that she can't go far. But when an exotic new girl, Xanadu, arrives in the small Kansas town, Mike's world is turned upside down. Xanadu is everything Mike is not: cool, complicated, sexy, and . . . straight. This heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful novel will speak to anyone who has ever fallen in love with someone just out of reach.

Center Field by Robert Lipsyte
Mike has his junior year well under control. Coach Cody has all but given him the starting spot as the Ridgedale Rangers' varsity center fielder. But then Oscar Ramirez shows up. Oscar is an amazing ballplayer, as talented at the plate as he is in center field, and it's not long before Mike loses control. He's on the bench, he's getting into fights, and he finds himself in weekend detention with Katherine Herold, the most mysterious, abrasive, alluring girl in school. Mike is lost, confused, and looking to Coach Cody to help him get back on track. But the coach has his own set of rules for Mike to play by, and the decisions Mike makes are going to impact more than just the starting lineup.

Heat by Mike Lupica
Michael Arroyo grows up in the shadows of hallowed Yankee Stadium, a boy forever on the outside looking in. His only chance to see his field of dreams? Pitch his Bronx all-star team to the district finals and a shot at the Little League World Series. But there is a problem. Michael is good - "too"good. Rival coaches and players can't believe a boy could be this good and be only twelve years old. And Michael has no way to prove it - no mother, no father, and a birth certificate that is stuck back home in his native Cuba. If the people from social services find out his secret, he will have an even worse problem: being separated from the only family he knows, his older brother Carlos.

The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith
The last place Ryan Walsh should be this afternoon is on a train heading to Wrigley Field. She should be in class, enduring yet another miserable day of her first year of high school. But for once, Ryan isn't thinking about what she should be doing because she's finally returning to the place that her father loved, where the two of them spent so many afternoons cheering on their team. And, on the fifth anniversary of his death, it feels like there's nowhere else in the world she should be. Good luck is often hard to come by at a place like Wrigley Field, but it's on this day that she meets Nick who seems to love the Cubs nearly as much as she does. But Nick carries with him a secret that makes Ryan wonder if anyone can ever really escape their past, or believe in the promise of those reassuring words: "Wait till next year."



Kimberly

March Madness

Watching a lot of college basketball this month?  Why not read some good basketball books too!

Box Out by John Coy
Sophomore Liam Bergstrom just joined the varsity basketball team. His teammates made varsity because they're good. Liam's here because he's tall and Coach needs a guy who can grab rebounds. It's the chance Liam's been waiting for, but already he's playing catch-up. The other guys know what Coach expects, and they're willing to do things Coach's way, no matter what. So when Liam questions the team's practice of praying together before games, he's suddenly the odd man out. Now Liam has to find the guts to stand up for what he believes in--and take his game to a whole new level.

Travel Team by Mike Lupica
Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court--but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured. Travel Team is an inspirational tale in the tradition of The Bad News Bears and Hoosiers. And check out these other basketball-related novels by Mike Lupica.

Boost by Kathy Mackel
Thirteen-year-old Savvy’s three-point shot is deadly. But she gets pushed around on the basketball court. Her older sister, Callie, is on varsity cheerleading, but she’s not light enough to be a flier—her coveted position. Both girls need to boost their level of competition to get into the action. How far are they willing to go to be the best?

Game by Walter Dean Myers
Drew Lawson knows basketball is taking him places. It has to, because his grades certainly aren't. But lately his plan has run squarely into a pick. Coach's new offense has made another player a star, and Drew won't let anyone disrespect his game. Just as his team makes the playoffs, Drew must come up with something big to save his fading college prospects. It's all up to Drew to find out just how deep his game really is.

Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Peña
Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong. But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesn’t have to be the person everyone else expects him to be.

Black and White by Paul Volponi
Marcus and Eddie are best friends who found the strength to break through the racial barrier. Marcus is black; Eddie is white. Stars of their school basketball team, they are true leaders who look past the stereotypes and come out on top. They are inseparable, watching each other’s backs, both on and off the basketball court. But one night—and one wrong decision—will change their lives forever. Will their mistake cost them their friendship . . . and their future?

Kimberly

Cubs fans know that this is the year!

Comeback Season
by Jennifer E. Smith

Opening Day 2008 finds tomboy freshman Ryan Walsh cutting class to catch the game at Wrigley Field. Since that day also marks the 5th anniversary of her father’s sudden death, Ryan (who is NOT named after Ryne Sandberg) decides to honor her dad by returning to the place where they spent countless afternoons.

While there, she meets up with fellow Diehard Cubs Fan and classmate Nick Crowley, who has just moved to Chicago from Wisconsin (where he decidedly WAS NOT a Brewers fan.) As the teens develop a baseball relationship, they gradually learn each other’s deep down secrets and realize that they are both staging their own comebacks this year. However, as the Cubs fans’ traditional cry of “Wait ‘til Next Year” changes into “Next Year Is Here!”, Ryan realizes she has picked the wrong year to bargain against the team.

Dawn

Racing fans will like this one!

Saturday Night Dirt
by Will Weaver

Have you ever driven by a small race track out in the country and wondered what goes on there? From the racers to the track owner to the mechanics, Will Weaver’s Saturday Night Dirt gives one day in the life of a small race track struggling to stay in business and the drivers hoping to find racing sponsors or simply keep their cars in one piece.

Mel, Melody Walters, runs Headwaters Speedway with her dad, Johnny Walters. The track hasn’t been doing well but on this particular Saturday Mel decides to call around to try to convince drivers who have seen their races at other tracks rained out to come to Headwaters. It’s a gamble as she can’t be sure it won’t rain at her track and the drivers who have come from miles away to race won’t be disappointed.

Trace Bonham can’t seem to get along with his mechanic, Larry. Trace’s father is a successful farmer with lots of money to spend on his car. He wants Trace to be a successful driver, but he can’t seem to get his car to perform as well as his father thinks it should. Is Larry tinkering with the car in order to slow him down or is Trace just not the best driver for his Street Stock Chevy?
Beau Kim is hoping he can keep his car, most of which he has stuck together from parts found in junk yards, together through the night’s race. He knows he probably shouldn’t race with the sketchy state of his car’s roll cage, but he can’t resist the urge to get his car on the track.

Packed full of realistic details on the cars and the races, Saturday Night Dirt crams all this action into one day that could launch the careers of the drivers and get Headwaters Speedway out of the red or end in huge wrecks and lackluster finishes for the drivers and a rainout that could bring an end to Headwaters Speedway.

John