Girls and Sports

Looking for a great sports story with a female protagonist? Look no further!

Bates, Sonya Spreen. Topspin. 2013. 147p.
At a junior tournament in Melbourne, Kat finds herself caught in the middle of a plot to sabotage the star tennis player.

Cross, Shauna. Derby Girl. 2007. 234p. When sixteen-year-old rebel Bliss Cavendar, who is miserable living in a small Texas town with her beauty pageant-obsessed mother, secretly joins a roller derby team under the name “Babe Ruthless,” her life gets better, although infinitely more confusing.

Fichera, Liz. Hooked. 2013. 363p.
Invited to become her varsity golf team’s only female member, Native American Fredericka Oday pursues a dream of earning a scholarship only to be challenged by spoiled golden boy Ryan Berenger, who resents Fred for replacing his best friend on the team.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Game Changer. 2012. 250p.
While playing in the championship softball game, star pitcher KT Sutton blacks out and awakes to a changed world where the roles of academics and sports at her middle school have flipped, making talented athletes, such as KT, outcasts and brainy nerds popular.

Halpin, Brendan. Shutout. 2010. 183p.
Fourteen-year-old Amanda and her best friend Lena start high school looking forward to playing on the varsity soccer team, but when Lena makes varsity and Amanda only makes junior varsity, their long friendship rapidly changes.

Kenneally, Miranda. Catching Jordan. 2011. 283p.
Jordan Woods is the female captain and quarterback of her high school football team and is fine with being treated like “one of the guys,” as long as she lands an athletic scholarship for college, but when a new kid shows up, Jordan gets competition for her starting position and discovers she is developing a crush.

Kenneally, Miranda. Breathe, Annie, Breathe. 2014. 311p.
To honor her dead boyfriend and cope with her grief and guilt, college student Annie trains for a marathon with athletic Jeremiah, who flirts with Annie on the trails and makes her feel alive and happy and guilty all at the same time.

Martino, Alfred C. Perfected by Girls. 2012. 310p.
Melinda Radford has difficulty everyday because she is on the boys wrestling team.

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. 2006. 274p. (Dairy Queen 1)
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.

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. The Off Season. 2007. 277p. (Dairy Queen 2)
High school junior D.J. staggers under the weight of caring for her badly injured brother, her responsibilities on the dairy farm, a changing relationship with her friend Brian, and her own athletic aspirations.

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Front and Center. 2009. 256p. (Dairy Queen 3)
This season, D.J. Schwenk steps behind the free-throw line to face the perils of love and life in this highly-anticipated final book of the Dairy Queen trilogy.

Schindler, Holly. Playing Hurt. 2011. 303p.
Chelsea Keyes, a high school basketball star whose promising career has been cut short by a terrible accident on the court, and Clint Morgan, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player who gave up his sport following a game-related tragedy, meet at a Minnesota lake resort and find themselves drawn together by the losses they suffered.

Skilton, Sarah. Bruised. 2013. 274p.
When she freezes during a hold-up at a local diner, sixteen-year-old Imogen, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, has to rebuild her life, including her relationship with her family and the boy who was with her during the shoot-out.

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Scorpio Races. 2011. 409p.
Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line – alive.

Van Draanen, Wendelin. The Running Dream. 2011. 336p.
When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a wonderful way to help her rekindle her dream of running again.

Get in the Game: Sports Fiction

Welcome to the third installment of our suggested summer reading for teens! Here is a selection of quality fiction. Don’t let the recommended grades fool you – if you’re interested in a certain topic, you’re bound to love the book. The grade just refers to where it will fit nicely with the Common Core curriculum.

Aronson, Marc, ed. Pick-up Game: a full day of full court. 2011. 7th Grade.
Ten different short stories, ten different authors, ten different point of views make up Pick-Up Game. While most of the action takes place in the Cage, the basketball court on West 4th Street in New York City, the different characters add more layers and insight than a one-person point of view about this particular sport. Note: Miss Kate doesn’t even like basketball and she LOVED this book.
Ties in with: 7th Grade English

Hornby, Nick. Slam. 2007. 10th Grade.
At the age of fifteen, Sam Jones’s girlfriend gets pregnant and Sam’s life of skateboarding and daydreaming about Tony Hawk changes drastically.
Ties in with: 10th Grade English, Biology, Health

Myers, Walter Dean and Ross Workman. Kick. 2011. 7th Grade.
Told in their separate voices, thirteen-year-old soccer star Kevin and police sergeant Brown, who knew his father, try to keep Kevin out of juvenile hall after he is arrested on very serious charges.
Ties in with: 7th Grade English
Great for fans of Walter Dean Myers

 

Other Sports Fiction of Interest

While these may not necessarily tie-in with the Common Core, they’re still fantastic reads for those in 7-12.

Cross, Shauna. Derby Girl. 2007.
When sixteen-year-old rebel Bliss Cavendar, who is miserable living in a small Texas town with her beauty pageant-obsessed mother, secretly joins a roller derby team under the name “Babe Ruthless,” her life gets better, although infinitely more confusing. This book was the reason Whip It was made into a movie.

Herbach, Geoff. Stupid Fast. 2011.
Growing suddenly very tall in his sophomore year of high school, former small kid Felton Reinstein discovers that he has become a very fast runner but finds his athletic ambitions compromised by his mother’s depression, his annoying younger brother, a first romance and a shocking secret from his past.

Korman, Gordon. Pop. 2009.
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 Gilbert. Dairy Queen. 2007, 2006.
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 of the sport herself, not anticipating the reactions of those around her. First in a trilogy.