Summer Reading 2020: Sports Fiction & Novels in Verse

Thirteen-year-old Savvy Christopher is 6'2" and the girls basketball team's star player, but, despite her height and skills, Savvy struggles with her self-confidence and searches for some way to boost her performance. When steroids are found in her gym bag, Savvy denies they are hers and the rumors start to fly. A bit of mystery, complex family relationships, and plenty of exciting on-court action make this a riveting read.

Unhappy at not being allowed to play on the boys' basketball team, Lizzy Trudeau, thirteen, receives a magical wish: the ability to sink every shot. Pure Swish. Now eviscerating the competition in the boy's league is small potatoes--she has the skills to dominate in the NBA and finds herself playing against her hero, the greatest player of all time.

Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his own moves. In this prequel to Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover, it’s the summer of 1988, and twelve-year-old Chuck Bell is sent to stay with his grandparents, where he discovers jazz and basketball and learns more about his family's past.

Basketball prodigy Stanford 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. Soon 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.

Sixteen-year-old Bernardo, who is eight feet tall and suffers from a condition called Gigantism, leaves the Philippines to live with his mother's family in London, much to the delight of his thirteen-year-old half-sister Andi, a passionate basketball player. In a novel packed with quirkiness and humor, the author explores a touching sibling relationship and the clash of two very different cultures.

Hockey is Conor's life. His whole life. There are very few things Conor and his dad love more than the game, and one of those things is their Doberman, Sinbad. To help pay for Sinbad to go through cancer treatment, Conor gives up hockey and finds himself considering who he is without the sport that has defined him, and connecting more with his family and best friend.

Ever since T’Shawn’s dad died, his mother has been struggling to keep the family afloat. So when he’s offered a spot on a prestigious diving team at the local private swim club, he knows that joining would only add another bill to the pile. Luckily, T’Shawn is given a scholarship, and he can put all his frustration into diving practices. But when criminal activity increases in the neighborhood and people begin to suspect his older brother Lamont, T’Shawn begins to worry that maybe Lamont hasn’t left his criminal past behind after all.

Aspiring to be the fasted sprinter on his elite middle school's track team, a gifted runner finds his goal challenged by a tragic past with a violence-prone father, in a debut entry of a series about four teammates. Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.

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? 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 her new friend Rosa with her – the girl with cerebral palsy who tutored Jessica in all the math she missed and can see into her heart.

Teen sports reporter Susan Carol is competing as a swimmer at her first-ever Olympic games. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and her best friend Stevie is both amazed and envious. But Stevie can’t shake the feeling that something’s not right. Everyone wants a piece of Susan Carol’s success—agents, sponsors, the media. Just how far will they go to ensure that America’s newest Olympic darling wins gold?

When formerly medically fragile Levi discovers his love for boxing, he finds himself in the ring with those who love him most. He knows he's strong enough to fight for his life. But can he convince everyone else to believe in him, too? This gripping, funny novel in shaped poetry looks at what it means to be a typical kid--and all the many definitions of strength.

In 1940, a group of British children, their escorts, and some sailors struggle to survive in a lifeboat when the ship taking them to safety in Canada is torpedoed. This novel in verse is based on the true events and real people of this little-known World War II story, Lifeboat 12 is about believing in one another, knowing that only by banding together will we have any chance to survive.

Deaf sixth-grader Macy struggles with resentment as her mother sells their house and prepares to add a stepfather and twin stepsisters to their family. Helping an elderly neighbor who is also preparing to move turns from a chore to an escape as Iris finds ways to communicate with Macy and shares stories that inspire the girl to look at life in new ways.

Written in first-person free verse, this timely book traces the internal journey of a young Syrian refugee adjusting to a new home and culture in the U.S. Sent with her mother to the safety of a relative's home in Cincinnati when her Syrian community is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries for the beloved family members who were left behind and forges a new sense of identity shaped by friends and changing perspectives.

With eleven short stories told in text messages, emails, formal letters, stories in verse, and even a mini graphic novel, this book tackles a range of important subjects, from peer pressure, family issues, and cultural barriers to the unexpected saving grace of music, art, friendship, and reading. These stories shine a light on the moments when everything is thrilling and terrifying at the same time--in a way it will never be again.