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Gus and Grandpa at Basketball
by Claudia Mills and Catherine Stock"A great intergenerational team." --Kirkus Reviews Gus loves basketball -- that is, basketball practice with Pete, the coach, and shooting baskets at Grandpa's house with only Grandpa's dog, Skipper, in attendance. Basketball games are another story. What if Gus misses every basket, and everybody laughs? If only his parents wouldn't come. Gus is especially unnerved by his father's shouting. Then Grandpa comes to Gus's last game and teaches him the secret of success -- to tune out the other voices and listen to his own.
Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time
by Lisa YeeStanford Wong is having a bad summer. If he flunks his summer-school English class, he won't pass sixth grade. If that happens, he won't start on the A-team. If *that* happens, his friends will abandon him and Emily Ebers won't like him anymore. And if THAT happens, his life will be over. Then his parents are fighting, his grandmother Yin-Yin hates her new nursing home, he's being "tutored" by the world's biggest nerdball Millicent Min--and he's not sure his ballpoint "Emily" tattoo is ever going to wash off. (cont. on next page)
Hoops
by Walter Dean MyersAll eyes are on seventeen-year-old Lonnie Jackson while he practices with his team for a city-wide basketball Tournament of Champions. His coach, Cal, knows Lonnie has what it takes to be a pro-basketball player, but warns him about giving in to the pressure. Cal knows because he, too, once had the chance--but sold out. As the Tournament nears, Lonnie learns that some heavy bettors want Cal to keep him on the bench so that the team will lose the championship. As the last seconds of the game tick away Lonnie and Cal must make a decision. Are they willing to blow the chance of a lifetime?
Last Shot
by John FeinsteinSteven Thomas is one of two lucky winners of the U.S. Basketball Writer's Association's contest for aspiring journalists. His prize? A trip to New Orleans and a coveted press pass for the Final Four. It's a basketball junkie's dream come true! But the games going on behind the scenes between the coaches, the players, the media, the money-men, and the fans turn out to be even more fiercely competitive than those on the court. Steven and his fellow winner, Susan Carol Anderson, are nosing around the Superdome and overhear what sounds like a threat to throw the championship game. Now they have just 48 hours to figure out who is blackmailing one of MSU's star players ... and why.
Boost
by Kathy MackelThirteen-year-old Savvy is six two and full of raw basketball talent; her three-point shot is deadly. But she’s also skinny and gets pushed around on the court. Her older sister, Callie, is a freshman on varsity cheerleading, but she’s not quite light enough to be a flier—her coveted position. Both girls need to boost their level of competition to get off the bench and into the action. When steroids are found in Savvy’s gym bag, she claims they are not hers. Suddenly, accusations are flying and nobody knows who is telling the truth. When it comes to competitive sports, no one is exempt from being offered a boost. Read Kathy Mackel's posts on the Penguin Blog. .
Fast Break
by Mike LupicaFrom the #1 bestselling author of Heat, Travel Team and Million-Dollar Throw comes a feel-good basketball tale reminiscent of The Blind Side. Forced to live on his own after his mom dies and her boyfriend abandons him, 12-year-old Jayson does whatever it takes to get by. He will do anything to avoid the foster care system. Besides, his real home has always been the beat-up basketball court behind the projects in the North Carolina hills, and his family has always been his friends and teammates. He manages to get away with his deception until the day he gets caught stealing a new pair of basketball sneakers. Game over. Within a day a social worker places him with a family from the other side of town, the Lawtons. New home, new school, new teammates.Jayson, at first, is combatative, testing the Lawtons' patience at every turn. He wants out, yet the Lawtons refuse to take the bait. But not everyone in Jayson's new life is so ready to trust him--and even Jayson's old friends give him a hard time now that he's attending a school full of rich kids. It's on Jayson to believe that he deserves a better life than the one he once had. The ultimate prize if he can? A trip to play in the state finals at Cameron Indoor Stadium-home to the Duke Blue Devils and launching pad to his dream of playing bigtime college ball. Getting there will be a journey that reaches far beyond the basketball court.In the tradition of uplifting stories like The Blind Side, Fast Break has all the family-friendly sports action Mike Lupica has become known and loved for.
Bad-luck Basketball
by Thomas Troupe and Mike Ray and Jake MaddoxThe Clovers have never been the best basketball team in the district, but lately their luck has been worse than ever. And it seems like everyone wants to blame Brandon for the team's losing streak. Can Brandon convince his teammates he's not bringing the bad luck before it's too late?
Mason Dixon
by Claudia Mills and Guy FrancisHere's the third entry in Claudia Mills' charming middle-grade series. Mason Dixon survived the school choir. He survived adopting his now-beloved dog named, uh, Dog. But now he faces his biggest challenge yet: joining the local basketball team. Not by choice, of course. Not only do his parents encourage it, but his dad even volunteers to be his coach. Now, with his best pal Brody and a team of misfits even worse at basketball than him (if that's possible), Mason must try to rally to beat his arch-rival, the school bully Dunk. Just another day-in-the-life of a disaster-prone fourth grader.From the Hardcover edition.
The Hoopster
by Alan Lawrence SitomerA hard beat pumped from a radio by the fence. Ten players, twenty sneakers, two rims, one basketball: that's all there was. That's all they needed. A ball sailed through the air. Swish! Across the court, a player tried to dribble past a defender and take him to the hole, but the pick was weak and the defense clogged the middle. A shot was forced up off balance. Two players battled for position under the boards. Shawn, a white player for the Skins, got the tip, dribbled back up-court away from the basket, then stopped, popped, and nailed a three- point basket.
Night Hoops
by Carl DeukerNick Abbott and Trent Dawson have nothing in common but basketball. It's sophomore year and Nick is trying to deal with his parents' divorce. He also really wants to be a star on the basketball team. Trent, his neighbor, is angry, and aggressive. The two form an uneasy bond as they quietly practice each night on Nick's backyard basketball court. But as the basketball season progresses, their lives become unexpectedly intertwined. In this story of an unlikely bond, Carl Deuker explores the confusing place between loneliness and friendship, between faithfulness and betrayal. Filled with gripping game play, this is a story about choices.
Great Moments in Basketball History
by Matt ChristopherThe history of basketball is chock-full of famous buzzer-beating shots, amazing game-saving plays, and thrilling maneuvers that defy gravity. All fans have their favorite memory, just as they have their favorite team and their favorite player. Now here's a book that offers a look back at more than fifteen of the sport's best moments. The Block, The Steal, The Shot. Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, Bird , Jordan , and James. Each entry captures the nail-biting tension of the minutes leading up to the play, as well as information about the superstar players that made them and the teams that they played for. Packed with facts and action, this is a book young basketball fans will reach for again and again -- and because it comes from Matt Christopher, young readers know they're getting the best sports writing on the shelf.
Basketball (or Something Like It)
by Nora Raleigh BaskinBasketball clinics, a revolving door of coaches, incensed parents, and the importance of the right sneakers-is that what the game is about? Told from the perspective of four unlikely friends, Nora Raleigh Baskin's poignant novel focuses on the action, drama, and fun of playing ball and explores what it takes to be a winner of the game-both on the court and off.
Trouthe, Lies, and Basketball
by Charley RosenElliot Hersch is given a basketball on his tenth birthday and cuts a deal with his disapproving father: if he makes straight As, he is allowed to play. Modeling his game on the basketball heroes of his time--Clyde Frazier, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and especially Larry Bird--Elliot becomes one of the finest high school basketball players in New York. Trying to steer clear of the corruption and sleaze in the big college programs, Elliott signs with the seemingly clean-cut University of Southern Arizona (USA), partly to fulfill his promise to his father, whose one piece of advice about life is: Tell the truth, always. A quote from Chaucer, his father's favorite writer, guides both father and son "Trouthe is the hyest thing that man may kepe." What he finds at the USA and then the NBA is a far cry from untarnished "trouthe." Elliott is challenged at every turn, tangling at the end of the day with what is most true: the game. Can Elliott truly play basketball? And if not, what is left of his life? Trouthe, Lies, and Basketball is an epic comic tale--structured somewhat like a gripping basketball game, completely with literary "time-outs"--of a basketball player coming to terms with the world as it is, his talents as they are. Rosen's characters, even the mostly unseemly, are all heart, and by the end they leave those hearts on the hardwood.
Ball Don't Lie
by Matt de la PeñaNewbery Award-winning author Matt de la Pena's Ball Don't Lie about basketball "is a must-read." [The Bulletin]
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. Matt de la Peña's breakout urban masterpiece, Ball Don't Lie takes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it.
Here to Stay
by Sara FarizanBijan Majidi is:
Shy around girls
Really into comics
Decent at basketball
Bijan Majidi is not:
A terrorist
What happens when a kid who’s flown under the radar for most of high school gets pulled off the bench to make the winning basket in a varsity playoff game? If his name is Bijan Majidi, life is suddenly high fives in the hallways and invitations to exclusive parties—along with an anonymous photo sent by a school cyberbully that makes Bijan look like a terrorist.
The administration says they’ll find and punish the culprit. Bijan wants to pretend it never happened. He’s not ashamed of his Middle Eastern heritage; he just doesn’t want to be a poster child for Islamophobia. Lots of classmates rally around Bijan. Others make it clear they don’t want him or anybody who looks like him at their school. But it’s not always easy to tell your enemies from your friends.
Here to Stay is a painfully honest, funny, authentic story about growing up, speaking out, and fighting prejudice.
After the Shot Drops
by Randy RibayA powerful novel about friendship, basketball, and one teen's mission to create a better life for his family.
Bunny and Nasir have been best friends forever, but when Bunny accepts an athletic scholarship across town, Nasir feels betrayed.
While Bunny tries to fit in with his new, privileged peers, Nasir spends more time with his cousin, Wallace, who is being evicted.
Nasir can't help but wonder why the neighborhood is falling over itself to help Bunny when Wallace is in trouble.
When Wallace makes a bet against Bunny, Nasir is faced with an impossible decision—maybe a dangerous one.
Told from alternating perspectives, After the Shot Drops is a heart-pounding story about the responsibilities of great talent and the importance of compassion.
Boy21
by Matthew QuickFrom Matthew Quick, the author of The Silver-Linings Playbook, comes a powerful young adult novel about basketball, outer-space and friendship.
You can lose yourself in repetition--quiet your thoughts; I learned the value of this at a very young age.
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 the neighborhood, and the life of this teen basketball phenom has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, he 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 Final Four
by Paul VolponiMarch Madness is in full swing, and there are only four teams let in the NCAA basketball championship. The heavily favored Michigan Spartans and the underdog Troy Trojans meet in the first game in the seminfinals, and it's there that the fates of Malcolm, Roko, Crispin, and M.J. intertwine. As the last moments tick down on the game clock, you'll learn how each player went from being a kid who loves to shoot hoops to a powerful force in one of the most important games of the year. Which team will leave the Superdome victorious? In the end it will come down to who has the most skill, the most drive, and the most heart.
The Crossover
by Kwame Alexander2015 Newbery Medal Winner
2015 Coretta Scott King Honor Award Winner
"With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell.
He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood from Kwame Alexander.
Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.
A New York Times Bestseller