Book cover for Ball don't lie

Ball don't lie

de la Pena, Matt.

Seventeen-year-old Sticky lives to play basketball at school and at Lincoln Rec Center in Los Angeles and is headed for the pros, but he is unaware of the many dangers--including his own past--that threaten his dream.

Book cover for Boy21

Boy21

Quick, Matthew, 1973-
Call Number: YA

As the only white player on his high school basketball team, Finley doesn’t understand why his coach insists that he befriend Russell, a troubled black superstar who has just moved to their town outside Philadelphia.  Finley lives in a violent neighborhood controlled by the Irish mob.  Though Russell comes from a privileged existence on the West Coast, ever since his parents were murdered, he can barely function.

Book cover for Cosmic

Cosmic

Cottrell Boyce, Frank.
Call Number: x SF

Liam has always felt a bit like he's stuck between two worlds. This is primarily because he's a twelve-year-old kid who looks like he's about thirty. Sometimes it's not so bad, like when his new principal mistakes him for a teacher on the first day of school or when he convinces a car dealer to let him take a Porsche out on a test drive. But mostly it's just frustrating, being a kid trapped in an adult world. And so he decides to flip things around. Liam cons his way onto the first spaceship to take civilians into space, a special flight for a group of kids and an adult chaperone, and he is going as the adult chaperone. It's not long before Liam, along with his friends, is stuck between two worlds again--only this time he's 239,000 miles from home.

 
Book cover for Curveball : the year I lost my grip

Curveball: The Year I Lost my Grip

Sonnenblick, Jordan
Call Number: YA

Sometimes, the greatest comebacks take place far away from the ball field.

Meet Peter Friedman, high school freshman. Talented photographer. Former baseball star. When a freakish injury ends his pitching career, Peter has some major things to figure out. Is there life after sports? Why has his grandfather suddenly given him thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment? And is it his imagination, or is the super-hot star of the girls' swim team flirting with him right in front of the amazing new girl in his photography class? In his new novel, teen author Jordan Sonnenblick performs his usual miraculous feat: exploring deep themes of friendship, romance, family, and tragedy, while still managing to be hilariously funny.

Book cover for Darius & Twig

Darius & Twig

Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-2014.
Call Number: YA

Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that life in Harlem throws at them. The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they'll be stuck in the same place forever.

 

Book cover for Exit, Pursued By a Bear

Exit, Pursued By a Bear

Johnston, E. K.
Call Number: YA

At cheerleading camp, Hermione is drugged and raped, but she is not sure whether it was one of her teammates or a boy on another team—and in the aftermath she has to deal with the rumors in her small Ontario town, the often awkward reaction of her classmates, the rejection of her boyfriend, the discovery that her best friend, Polly, is gay, and above all the need to remember what happened so that the guilty boy can be brought to justice.

 

Book cover for The Final Four

The Final Four

Volponi, Paul.
Call Number: YA

March 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 semifinals, 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.

 

Book cover for Ghost

Ghost

Reynolds, Jason
Call Number: YA

Ghost, aka Castle Crenshaw, is used to running away from things. Fast. So when he stumbles upon a track club practicing in the park and finds himself challenging their fastest sprinter, he attracts the attention of the club's coach who recruits him to join and in the process challenges him to look inside himself.

Book cover for Girl against the universe.

Girl against the universe.

Stokes, Paula.
Call Number: YA

Maguire is bad luck. No matter how many charms she buys or good luck rituals she performs, horrible things happen. She spends a lot of time in her room to avoid causing damage. But then she meets Jordy, a talented, lucky, aspiring tennis star. He's convinced he can help Maguire break her unlucky streak; she is convinced the best thing she can do for Jordy is stay away. But it turns out that staying away is harder than she thought. 

 

 

Book cover for Gym candy

Gym candy

Deuker, Carl.

Mick Johnson is determined not to make the same mistakes his father, a failed football hero, made. But after being tackled just short of the end zone in a big game, Mick begins using “gym candy," or steroids. His performances become record-breaking, but the side effects are terrible: Mick suffers 'roid rage, depression, and body acne. Gym Candy's subject matter is just as hard-hitting as its football scenes. You'll find yourself unable to look away as Mick goes down a road that even he knows is the wrong one to travel.

Book cover for Losers take all

Losers take all

Klass, David.
Call Number: YA

"At a sports-crazy NJ high school where all kids must play on a team, a group of rebels start a soccer team designed to undermine the jock-culture of the school"-- Provided by publisher.

 

Book cover for Until Friday night : a Field party novel

Until Friday night : a Field party novel

Glines, Abbi.

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he's battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton's life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn't spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn't draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West's pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father--so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won't tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn't control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own--or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn't ever let her go...