Itasca Community Library
500 West Irving Park Road | Itasca, IL 60143 | 630-773-1699
Recommended Reading for Sports Fiction
Fighting Ruben Wolfe y Markus Zusak
The Wolfe brothers join a boxing circuit in hopes of bringing some prize money home to their family. Unfortunately, only the winners get paid. Y ZUS
Players by Joyce Sweeney
Corey sees a threat to his dream of winning the basketball championship when he discovers that the new player on his team will do whatever it takes to get to play Corey's position. Y SWE
Safe at Second by Scott Johnson
Todd, a great pitcher, has scouts and recruiters begging for his attention, but all of this comes to an abrupt end when he is hit in the face by a line drive and loses an eye. Can he make a comeback? Y JOH
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
welve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight. Y BLO
The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John H. Ritter
To save his town’s baseball field, Tommy and his friends must beat their longtime rivals whom they have never beaten before at a game of baseball. Y RIT
The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks
Though a star student and excellent basketball player, Jerome tries to fit in at his new school and with his new team when he becomes the first African American to be bused in. Y BRO
Three Clams and an Oyster by Randy Powell
Flint McCallister, captain of the four-man flag football team called Three Clams and an Oyster, faces a dilemma. Should he replace his longtime but irresponsible friend who fails to show up for the first game? And, if so, who should he replace him with? Y POW
Travel Team by Mike Lupica
When Danny doesn’t make the basketball team because of his lack of height, his dad decides to coach a new basketball team made up of all the kids who didn’t originally get picked. Y LUP
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
T.J. forms a varsity swim team from the least likely candidates he can find in order to prove to the other jocks that they can succeed. Y CRU
Wrestling Sturbridge by Rich Wallace
Stuck in a small town where no one ever leaves and relegated by his wrestling coach to sit on the bench while his best friend becomes state champion, Ben decides he can't let his last high school wrestling season slip by without challenging his friend and the future. Y WAL
