March Madness: Sports Stories in J

New to Cincinnati, where her father is now coach of the University basketball team, eighth-grader Aurora (called Rory) finds herself isolated by the heated team rivalries--especially when it turns out her new friend Abby's father has a mysterious feud with Rory's father that threatens her new friendship.

Six eighth graders in Washington, DC, navigate through the conflict and division sparked by a school assignment focused on their town's Native American mascot.

Twelve-and-a-half year old Emelyn Ethrige lives with her widowed father in South Carolina, dreams of wheelchair motocross, and makes custom chair bags trying to earn enough money to buy a serious set of wheels; she has been in a wheelchair all her life, and is just fine getting around without help, but it seems that since her mother was killed in an accident everyone (father, grandparents, teachers, and classmates) have started treating her differently:...

Natalia De La Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Inglewood pool when her life changed. The LA Mermaids performed, emerging out of the water with matching sequined swimsuits, and it was then that synchronized swimming stole her heart. The problem? Her activist mom and professor dad think it’s a sport with too much emphasis on looks–on being thin and white. Nat grew up the youngest...

"Everyone knows Marcus Stroman as a baseball player. He loves the sport, and yes, he probably has a shot at the pros. But "baseball player" doesn't totally define him. Why won't anyone also see him as a basketball player or a musician? While he loves being known for what he does well, he's struggling because people are trying to limit him to just one thing. Literally how high up a mountain does Marcus need to climb to be completely free of what everyone...

"Thirteen-year-old Will is generally miserable but finds solace at dance school, and then Will's seventeen-year-old hockey-star cousin, Alex, moves in, and Will and Alex learn a lot about each other and their relationships with their fathers"--Provided by publisher. Thirteen-year-old Will is generally miserable at the middle school where his father is principal, but after his father refuses to let him attend dance school, Will finds common ground...

A young Dumplin’ meets Melissa in this joyful and energetic middle grade novel about a twelve-year-old girl living her life to the fullest, celebrating her love for sports and fighting for her right to cheer. Joy, a twelve-year-old trans girl, just moved to Texas with her mother and older brother. Her family has accepted Joy as the girl she is early in her transition, with little fuss, leaving Joy to explore her love of sports, competition, teamwork,...

One Day at a Time meets Mindy Kim in this fourth book in the charming chapter book series about Catalina Castaneda, a Mexican American girl with a magical sewing kit who wants to win a skateboarding competition. The Valle Grande Games skateboarding competition is coming up, and the winner gets a brand-new board. That means, if Coco wins, Catalina might finally get a skateboard of her own—Coco’s old one. The trouble is, normally fearless Coco...

A biogrphical novel tells the story of Cassius Clay, the determined boy who would one day become Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time.

"The third book in the Franklin School Friends series is a fast and funny story about sports, friendship, and sibling rivalries."--