10 Best Young Sports Novels That Will Touch Your Heart!
There's nothing quite like a good underdog story. It's where heroes and heroines are born, proving their mettle against the colossal world of sports. So, gear up sports fans and avid readers alike, because we are about to embark on a journey through the pages of the 10 best young sports novels of all time. Prepare for a hard ride of grit, glory, defeats, victories, and of course, raw emotions that will throttle your heart.
These tales weave together the raw, untamed energy of youth with the exhilarating rush of sports. They cover an array of sports from basketball to football, soccer to gymnastics, and everything in between. You'll encounter compelling characters, adrenaline-loaded games, and life-altering decisions. These novels brilliantly capture the true essence of sports: the sweat, the tears, the insurmountable joy, and the heartbreaking losses. However, they're not just about the games. They're about friendships, rivalries, love, dreams, and life beyond the playfield.
Whether you're a sucker for a slam-dunk, a last-minute goal, or a thrilling race to the finish line, there's a book here for you. So, lace up your reading shoes and buckle in, you're in for a good run! Expect to be both touched and inspired by the wonderful world of sports seething within each page.
『Friday Night Lights (25th Anniversary Edition)』
Named Sports Illustrated's best football book of all time and a #1 NYT bestseller, this is the classic story of a high school football team whose win-loss record has a profound influence on the town around them. Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa -- the winningest high-school football team in Texas history. Socially and racially divided, Odessa isn't known to be a place big on dreams, but every Friday night from September to December, when the Panthers play football, dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, Pulitzer Prize winner H. G. Bissinger unforgettably captures a season in the life of Odessa and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires -- and sometimes shatters -- the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms. The inspiration for the hit television program and film of the same name, this anniversary edition features a new afterword by the author.
Author | H. G. Bissinger |
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Price | $11.99 |
Publisher | Da Capo Press |
Release Date | Aug 11, 2015 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Art of Fielding』
At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment--to oneself and to others.
Author | Chad Harbach |
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Price | $10.99 |
Publisher | Little, Brown |
Release Date | Sep 07, 2011 |
Source | Google Books |
『Beartown』
Author | Perfection Learning Corporation |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Turtleback |
Release Date | Jan 01, 2018 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Blind Side』
In football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play.
Author | Michael Lewis |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Perfection Learning |
Release Date | Jan 01, 2009 |
Source | Google Books |
『Travel Team』
The #1 Bestseller! Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court -- but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured. For fans of The Bad News Bears, Hoosiers, the Mighty Ducks, and Mike Lupica's other New York Times bestselling novels Heat, The Underdogs, and Million-Dollar Throw, here is a book that proves that when the game knocks you down, champions stand tall.
Author | Mike Lupica |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Penguin |
Release Date | Aug 18, 2005 |
Source | Google Books |
『Game Changer』
What if school was sports, and sports were school? A talented teen athlete questions reality—and the role she plays in it—when a mysterious injury upends her world. Athletics are everything for eighth-grader KT Sutton. She’s a softball star, and she’s on track to get a college scholarship and achieve international fame. Then one day during a championship game—in the middle of an important play—she suddenly blacks out. When she wakes up, she’s in a different world. One where school is class after class of athletic drills, and after-school sports are replaced by popular academic competitions. One where KT is despised for her talent, and where her parents are fixated on her brother’s future mathletics career rather than KT’s softball hopes. KT is desperate to get back to reality as she knew it, but bits and pieces of disturbing memories and dreams make her wonder if something truly awful happened there. What if she’s lost something a lot more important than a softball game? From New York Times bestselling author of Sent and Sabotaged, an engaging and highly relevant exploration of society’s debate of smarts versus sports.
Author | Margaret Peterson Haddix |
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Price | $9.59 |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Release Date | Oct 16, 2012 |
Source | Google Books |
『Boy21』
You can lose yourself in repetition--quiet your thoughts; I learned the value of this at a very young age. Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He lives in broken-down Bellmont, a town ruled by the Irish mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged rivalries. At home, his dad works nights, and Finley is left to take care of his disabled grandfather alone. He's always dreamed of getting out someday, but until he can, putting on that number 21 jersey makes everything seem okay. Russ has just moved to the neighborhood, and the life of this teen basketball phenom has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, he won't pick up a basketball, but answers only to the name Boy21--taken from his former jersey number. As their final year of high school brings these two boys together, a unique friendship may turn out to be the answer they both need.
Author | Matthew Quick |
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Price | $8.99 |
Publisher | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
Release Date | Mar 05, 2012 |
Source | Google Books |
『Stupid Fast』
Just before his sixteenth birthday, Felton Reinstein has a sudden growth spurt that turns him from a small, jumpy, picked-on boy with the nickname of "Squirrel Nut" to a powerful athlete, leading to new friends, his first love, and the courage to confront his family's past and current problems.
Author | Geoff Herbach |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Sourcebooks, Inc. |
Release Date | Jun 01, 2011 |
Source | Google Books |
『Mexican WhiteBoy』
Newbery Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Matt de la Peña's Mexican WhiteBoy is a story of friendship, acceptance, and the struggle to find your identity in a world of definitions. Danny is tall and skinny. Even though he’s not built, his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. Ninety-five mile an hour fastball, but the boy’s not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound, he loses it. But at his private school, they don’t expect much else from him. Danny is brown. Half-Mexican brown. And growing up in San Diego that close to the border means everyone else knows exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. Before they find out he can’t speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair and blue eyes, they’ve got him pegged. But it works the other way too. And Danny’s convinced it’s his whiteness that sent his father back to Mexico. That’s why he’s spending the summer with his dad’s family. But to find himself, he may just have to face the demons he refuses to see--the demons that are right in front of his face. And open up to a friendship he never saw coming. Matt de la Peña's critically acclaimed novel is an intimate and moving story that offers hope to those who least expect it. "[A] first-rate exploration of self-identity." --SLJ "Unique in its gritty realism and honest portrayal of the complexities of life for inner-city teens...de la Peña poignantly conveys the message that, despite obstacles, you must believe in yourself and shape your own future." --The Horn Book Magazine "The baseball scenes...sizzle like Danny's fastball. Danny's struggle to find his place will speak strongly to all teens, but especially to those of mixed race." --Booklist "De la Peña blends sports and street together in a satisfying search for personal identity." --Kirkus Reviews "Mexican WhiteBoy...shows that no matter what obstacles you face, you can still reach your dreams with a positive attitude. This is more than a book about a baseball player--this is a book about life." --Curtis Granderson, New York Mets outfielder An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults A Junior Library Guild Selection
Author | Matt de la Peña |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Ember |
Release Date | Jan 12, 2010 |
Source | Google Books |
『Curveball』
After an injury ends Peter Friedman's athletic dreams, he concentrates on photography, which leads him to a girlfriend, new fame as a photographer, and a deeper relationship with the grandfather who gives Pete all of his camera gear.
Author | Jordan Sonnenblick |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Scholastic Paperbacks |
Release Date | Feb 25, 2014 |
Source | Google Books |
What a ride, huh? These books and comics aren't just about running faster, jumping higher, or hitting harder. They are, in essence, about growing up, learning about oneself and dealing with heartbreak and triumph in equal measure. They talk about grit, about sweat and about friendship. These stories will compel you to cheer for the underdogs, to feel their pain, their victories, their struggles, and their jubilations as if they were your own. They will make you revisit your own school and college days, the days of fervent screaming and cheering for your favorite teams and players. Through the lives of the characters, these riveting tales beautifully capture the passion, the camaraderie, and the sheer joy that sports can bring into life. The thrill of competition, the tantalizing tension of the game, the giddy highs and the disheartening lows, the behind-the-scenes drama, the life lessons and the enduring friendships are all intricately woven into the narratives. Moreover, these novels also paint an honest picture of hard work that goes into sports, and how it reflects not only in the field, but also in life outside it. If these stories won't touch your heart, I don't know what will! Go on, dive right in- the game’s afoot!
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