Sports Fiction Teen

It's his last year at Pine Mountain, and Ryan Dean should be focused on his future, but instead he's haunted by his past. His rugby coach expects him to fill the roles once played by his lost friend, Joey, as the rugby team's stand-off and new captain. And somehow he's stuck rooming with 12-year-old freshman Sam Abernathy, a cooking whiz with extreme claustrophobia and a serious crush on Annie Altman - aka Ryan Dean's girlfriend, for now, anyway.

Meet Kevin Pugh, 12-year-old couch potato. Now meet Cromwell, his part beagle, part potato chip dog. Kevin’s looking forward to spending his summer doing as little as possible. Unfortunately, Kevin’s father, former Chicago Bears star player/super-sports fanatic, Howie Pugh, feels differently. So does Cromwell, who has suddenly and mysteriously developed a fascination with agility competitions: Running up seesaws, leaping over hurdles, soaring through hoops (sometimes).

Danny Jordan is one of two lucky winners of the US Basketball Writer's Association's contest for aspiring journalists. His prize? A trip to New Orleans and a coveted press pass for the Final Four. It's a basketball junkie's dream come true! But the games going on behind the scenes between the coaches, the players, the media, the money-men, and the fans turn out to be even more fiercely competitive than those on the court.

Nathaniel Conti doesn’t feel real when he’s alone. Maybe that’s why he has a reputation as a troublemaker—he’ll do just about anything to have everyone’s eyes on him. But things are about to change. Nathaniel is in his first year of college, flung into new circumstances with new people to meet. There are public speaking classmates, lacrosse players—and then there’s the aspiring photographer who asks Nathaniel to be their model, who’s interested in more than what’s on the surface.

When the Southern Bells brought the telephone to rural North Carolina, it looked like a "big black daffodil". What the telephone company had not counted on in conceiving its eight-party line service was a pair of "past-middle-age, unmarried sisters", the chatty Misses Lucy and Lena Leatherwood. Once the Leatherwood sisters were connected by the Southern Bells, nobody else on that line had a chance!

Danny Owens is dedicating his seventh-grade season to his Super Bowl champion father, who recently passed away. Danny promises everyone that, just like his dad, he’ll dominate the big game at the end of the season and earn a spot on the high school varsity team. Then his English teacher catches him cheating on a test. Even though Danny can retake it, he knows there’s no point. He can’t read. And if Danny can’t pass this class, he won’t be eligible to play in the championship game that could unlock his future.

Champion kickboxer Haley swore she'd never set foot in the ring again after one tragic night. But that all changes when the guy she can't stop thinking about accepts a mixed martial arts fight in her honor. West Young is everything Haley promised herself she'd stay away from: handsome, sexy, and full of attitude.West is keeping a big secret from Haley. He hasn't told her who he really is, and helping her - fighting for her - is a shot at redemption, especially since his family is falling apart and it's all his fault.

After all, I'm Graham Scott, son of a football legend and guaranteed a scholarship. But now, I'm so far off the beaten path I barely recognize myself anymore. My father is a cheat. My best friend broke my heart. And I owe ten thousand dollars in gambling debt. The only thing I seem to find solace in anymore is the bottom of a booze bottle.

It started with unspoken animosity. The bitter bite of jealousy. And now it's full-blown hate. It was during my first football game that I felt the first chill of hate. I looked it right in the eyes and felt its sticky tentacles reach out for me. I'd never experienced something so cold and empty before. The effect of that look lingered, like an unspoken promise, long after it was gone. Becoming a couple, becoming the other half of a campus celebrity, wasn't easy.

You gotta know the rules to play the game. Ball is life. Take it to the hoop. Soar. What can we imagine for ourselves? What if we were the star players, moving and grooving through the game of life? What if we had our own rules of the game to help us get what we want, what we aspire to, what will enrich our lives? The Playbook is intended to provide inspiration for kids ages 10 and up to help them succeed on and off the court.

Face-Off's McKendrick brothers return in the explosive sequel Offsides. Twin hockey stars T.J. and Brad have finally resolved their differences and forged a friendship on and off the ice. Now high school seniors, they focus on landing a commitment to a D1 school. What should have been the best year ever takes a nasty hit when the boys' parents announce their divorce, and Brad makes a mistake that could impact his game eligibility.

What might have been a dream come true has turned into a nightmare. Brad's twin brother T.J. has gotten himself out of the fancy prep school his father picked for him and into the public high school Brad attends. Now T.J., the bright light in his father's eyes, is a shining new star on the hockey team, where Brad once held the spotlight. And he's testing his popularity with Brad's friends, eyeing Brad's girl, and competing to be captain of the team.

Teen reporters Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson are covering baseball's World Series, and during the course of an interview with a new hot pitcher, they discover more than a few contradictions in his life story. What's he hiding? An embarrassing secret? A possible crime? Let the investigation begin!

Sadie Morelli and Cason Tano were friends in middle school, before Sadie transferred to another school. When they meet at the local ice rink where Sadie waitresses and Cason’s hockey team plays, what was once friendship turns into something more. Given the intensity of the rivalry between their schools and friends, their budding relationship is a secret for them alone.

In his third book on baseball, John Ritter takes the reader to Dillontown where, through a series of events, the fate of the town rests on the outcome of a baseball game. Tom and a newcomer, Cruz, convince a former Major-League Baseball player to coach the team. The team prepares for the big day by using unorthodox training methods. While the team wins the game, it still takes an unusual set of circumstances to save the town.

From the slightly fantastical to the utterly real, light, and sweet romance to tales tinged with horror and thrills, Game On is an anthology that spans genre and style. But beneath each story is a loving ode to competition and games perfect for anyone who has ever played a sport or a board game, picked up a video game controller, or rolled a twenty-sided die.

Rocky N'Guwe thought tennis would be the hardest thing he'd have to learn at Palm Gables Tennis Academy. But the young jackal finds himself navigating a new culture as well as his own sexuality and the volatile relationships of any high school, all while keeping himself focused on the professional career that will allow him to rescue his sister from an undesirable marriage back home. And looming in his future is Palm Gables alum and rising tennis star Braden Longacre, an abrasive cross fox whose path keeps crossing Rocky's no matter how much the jackal tries to avoid him....

Best-selling sportswriter and Edgar Award winner John Feinstein is back with another sports mystery featuring Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson—this one set at the summer Olympics in London. In this book, Susan Carol isn't a reporter—she's an Olympian, competing as a swimmer at her first Olympic games. Stevie is both proud and envious of her athletic prowess. And he's worried by the agents and sponsors and media all wanting to get up close and personal with Susan Carol.

Sometimes, 12-year-old Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, most of the students don't look like him. They don't like him either. Dubbing him "Black Brother", Donte's teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter-skinned brother, Trey. When he's bullied and framed by the captain of the fencing team, "King" Alan, he's suspended from school and arrested for something he didn't do.

Thirteen-year-old Justin Cody is failing two classes and is addicted to texting and playing video games. Forced to take a wilderness canoe trip in Canada with his Grandpa Henry, Cody is thrust into a race for survival when the two discover a top-secret drone developed by the US military. Grandpa Henry is kidnapped, and Justin, who knows nothing about canoeing and camping, must canoe alone to a distant lake that promises rescue.