Just Do It: Sports Reads for Middle School

Middle School Fiction

  • Adachi, Mitsuru. Cross Game. 2010.
    The series centers around a boy named Ko, the family of four sisters who live down the street and the game of baseball.
  • Burg, Ann E. All the Broken Pieces. 2009.
    Two years since he was evacuated out of Vietnam, 12-year-old Matt struggles to suppress his memories of the war that gripped his homeland. However, circumstances beyond his control are about to make the memories come flooding back.
  • Choat, Beth. Soccerland. 2010.
    A young athlete competes at the International Sports Academy for a shot at a U. S. junior national soccer team.
  • Cochrane, Mick. The Girl Who Threw Butterflies. 2009.
    Molly wants to be known at school for something other than her father's death, so she joins the boys baseball team.
  • Feinstein, John. Last Shot: a Final Four mystery. 2005.
    After winning press passes to the Final Four, two teen reporters overhear what sounds like a threat to throw the championship game. The pair have only 48 hours to find out who is blackmailing one of the star players and why.
  • Fitzmaurice, Kathryn. A Diamond in the Desert. 2012.
    After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 13-year-old Tetsu and his Japanese-American family are sent to a relocation center where a fellow "prisoner" starts a baseball team. When Tetsu's sister gets dangerously sick, he feels he must choose between his family and his love of the game.
  • Green, Tim. Football Genius. 2007.
    Troy White has a phenomenal gift: he can predict football plays before they happen. Troy and his best friends devise a plan to get the attention of the Atlanta Falcons' star linebacker, so Troy can get a chance to prove what he can do.
  • Headley, Justina Chen. Girl Overboard. 2008.
    Everybody thinks Syrah is the golden girl. After all, her father is a billionaire and she has everything any kid could possibly desire. However, as Syrah reveals in her manga journal, most of what glitters in her life is fool's gold.
  • Koertge, Ronald. Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. 2003.
    Written in free verse with examples of several poetic forms slipped into the mix, this funny, poignant story by a master of dialogue tells of a straight-talking 14-year-old first baseman, benched by mono, who takes a swing at writing poetry.
  • Korman, Gordon. Pop. 2009.
    Marcus learns that his new friend Charlie Popovich, a former pro football player, has early onset Alzheimer's disease as a result of the head injuries he received during his career. Marcus is willing to risk everything to help him.
  • Lupica, Mike. The Big Field. 2008.
    Hutch, a long-time star shortstop, has lost his position to Darryl "D-Will" Williams, the top shortstop prospect since A-Rod. With the summer league championship on the line, just how far is Hutch willing to bend to be a good teammate?
  • Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. 2006.
    D.J.'s family doesn't talk much, especially about the fact that 15-year-old D.J. does all the heavy work on their Wisconsin dairy farm. But when D. J. decides to try out for the football team, suddenly, her family has quite a bit to say.
  • Myers, Walter Dean and Ross Workman. Kick. 2011.
    When Kevin, an angry and troubled, but well-intentioned, 13-year-old soccer star, is arrested on very serious charges, police sergeant Brown, who knew Kevin's father, tries to keep Kevin out of juvenile hall.
  • Park, Linda Sue. Keeping Score. 2008.
    In Brooklyn in 1951, a die-hard Giants fan teaches nine-year-old Maggie, a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, how to use a technique to keep score of a baseball game which creates a special friendship between them.
  • Parker, Robert B. Edenville Owls. 2007.
    After 14-year-old Bobby witnesses a parking lot altercation between his pretty new English teacher and a shady-looking fellow, he recruits his friends, who he's also organized into a basketball team, to help her.
  • Scaletta, Kurtis. Mudville. 2009.
    For 22 years, since a fateful baseball game against their rival town, it has rained in Moundville, so when the rain finally stops, 12-year-old Roy, his friends and foster brother Sturgis dare to face the curse and form a team.
  • Van Draanen, Wendelin. The Running Dream. 2011.
    When a school bus accident leaves 16-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.

Authors

Non-fiction

revised April 2011