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  • General Recommendations
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Kids' Sports Fiction

Here are some excellent sports novels for kids, perfect for the young sports enthusiast. #IndyPLKids

User from The Indianapolis Public Library

18 items

  • This Newbery Medal-winning novel in verse explores family, brotherhood, and basketball through the eyes of twin brothers Josh and Jordan Bell.
    Book, 2014Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2014] — J FIC ALE
  • A boy becomes a phenomenal baseball player one summer when he is befriended by a mysterious stranger resembling Babe Ruth.
    Book, 1972Boston : Little, Brown, [1972] — SHARED SYSTEM
  • 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…
    Book, 2018New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2018] — J FIC GRE
  • Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw finds his calling in an elite track team, learning about teamwork and his past along the way.
    Book, 2016New York : Atheneum Books For Young Readers, [2016] — J FIC REY
  • When a 7th grader is forced to join her school’s hockey team, she discovers unexpected friendships and a budding crush on the team captain.
    Book, 2025New York : Random House, 2025. — J FIC DEI
  • Narrated by twelve-year-old Cato, this intense and evocative story of racial unrest in prewar North Carolina ends with a dramatic match between white and Black little league teams.
    Book, 2024New York : Holiday House, 2024. — J FIC HEA
  • From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field.
    Book, 2021New York : Crown Books for Young Readers, [2021] — J FIC STO
  • From the award-winning author of The First Rule of Punk, a dazzling novel about a young girl who learns the missing pieces of her origin story from the family of legendary luchadores she’s just met.
    Book, 2022New York : Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022. — J FIC PER
  • A Wild West prequel to The Boy Who Saved Baseball, featuring a young baseball prodigy, Jack Dillon, who teams up with the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid in the gold-mining town of Dillontown.
    Book, 2009New York, NY : Philomel Books, [2009] — SHARED SYSTEM
  • The Hero Two Doors Down

    Based on the True Story of Friendship Between a Boy and a Baseball Legend

    Robinson, Sharon, 1950-
    Based on a true story, this novel explores the friendship between an eight-year-old boy and his new neighbor, Jackie Robinson.
    Book, 2016New York : Scholastic Press, 2016. — J FIC ROB
  • A story blending baseball lore and life lessons, where a young boy tries to save his town's field through a single game.
    Book, 2003New York : Philomel Books : Scholastic, 2003. — SHARED SYSTEM
  • A seventeen-year-old high school basketball star faces pressures from heavy bettors and must make a crucial decision about his future.
    Book, 1983New York : Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, [1983] — TEEN FIC MYE
  • Shoot-out

    a Comeback Kids Novel

    Lupica, Mike
    A story from bestselling author Mike Lupica about a star player who ends up on the worst team and learns that being a good captain means assisting off the field as much as on it.
    Book, 2010New York : Philomel Books ; Boston, MA : Walden Media, [2010] — SHARED SYSTEM
  • Dust Bowl refugee Gloria Mae Willard finds herself uprooted and working on a California peach orchard, where she tries to join the secret, all-boys baseball team that she's desperate to play on
    Book, 2022New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, [2022] — J FIC SCH
  • Eleven-year-old Alex moves to the city and uses hockey to navigate fitting in while staying proud of his Indigenous culture.
    Book, 2024Winnipeg, Manitoba : HighWater Press, [2024] — J FIC ROB
  • This story is about 13-year-old Carlos Cooper, who, after a car accident leaves him in a wheelchair, joins a wheelchair basketball team called the Rollin' Rats.
    Book, 2019New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2019. — J FIC OST
  • Features 12-year-old Maxine Chen balancing competitive skating, school bullies, and family pressure as she aims for nationals.
    Book, 2021New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2021. — J FIC SHE
  • A touching story about a nonbinary middle-schooler, Mars, navigating grief, self-discovery, and challenges on the ice.
    Book, 2023New York : Feiwel & Friends, 2023. — J FIC HUN